Class F a41 

BookP&S 

GoEyrigtel? 

CfiPXRIGHT DEPOSIT! 



THE FORMATION 



OF THE 



S T T E O F 



WEST VIRGINIA, 



AND OTHER 



INCIDENTS OF THE LATE OIVIL WAR . 



WITH REMARKS ON SUM KITS OF 



public; inteeest, 
ARISING SINCE THE WAR CLOSED, 

GRANVILLE PARKER, 



WELLSBURG, VV. V A. 

'.I VSS & SON, BOOK AND [OB PRINTERS 

t 8 7 5 • 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by 

GRANVILLE PARKER, 
Mtfhe Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



PRE F ACE. 



1 submit the following pages to my countrymen. They aim to 
state some facts connected with the Formation of the State of West 
Virginia, and other Incidents of our late Civil War, not, I tliink, gen- 
erally known ; and explain others. So far as they relate to my per- 
zonal experiences they give in the main, my feelings, views and ac- 
tion as expressed at or near the time the events occurred, as will 
appear from the date and place, which are generally affixed.. 

I have thought a pretty free interchange by the members of ouf 
Qreat Political Family, of persona/ experiences during the War, would 
best enable ns to realize that amount of Political Wisdom which the 
magnitude of the Sacriij.ee made, pugjir. to yield. In this belief I 
have ventured to contribute my mite — hoping others equally inter- 
ested, will approve tl)e suggestion, and contribute of their abundance. 
Sincerity and Truth, on all subjects, rather than the graces of style, 
s,eem to me to be the characteristics most needed. Also some re- 
marks on subjects Political, Financial, Educational and Religious, as 
fliey arose, since the , \Var closed. We have got to get back, or down, 
to the Principles on which our Government rests, and Conform our 
Lives to them — else we are Falsities— politically so, at least. So Unique 
and Conspicuous a Government as we possess, cannot be long suc- 
cessfully run, unless its citizens be Honest, Intelligent, Level-headed, 
Industrious men, and Discreet, Frugal and Virtuous women. 

Wellsburg, W. Va., August, 1875. 



ERRATA 



I note here material errors discovered on perusal, and give the 
correction. On page 45, paragraph 3— the practice with the Virginia 
Legislature prior to 1861 was to first take the sense of the voters on 
calling a Convention to alter or amend her Constitution. It was done 
prior to those of 1829 a,nd 1850-r-though at no time was it required 
by her existing Constitution prior to that date. On page 194, para- 
graph i, for "Ephraim B. Hall," read A. Bolton Caldwell "At- 
torney General;"- and for "Judge Brown" read Judge Berkshire 
"became, its first President." Both Mr. Hall and Judge Brown 
were second, I think, in succession to these offices under the New 
State. I find no typographical errors which the context will not 
readily correct. 



C O N T E N T S . 



Resolutions in Regard to. th,e John Brown Raid o,n Harper's 

Ferry, 18,59 . . . . . 1 

Appeal of the. Citizens of Cabell County and Vicinity to the 

Richmond Legislature, January, i860 . . 3 

Remarks of the Editor of the N. Y. Courier & Enquirer, with 

Mass. "Personal Liberty Lavys," I^ov. 20. i860 . 5 

Qur Father's Bond — : My reply through the Boston Courier — 

three letters ...... $ 

Our National Constitution — AVhat is It? Reply to Judges Al- 
len and McComas, on the Right o;f States to Secede . 25 

Letter to Hon. Thurlow Weed, January 15, 1861 . 34 

The Condition of the People of Cabell and adjoining; Counties 
after the Richmond Secession Ordinance passed, and 
Wise's Army advanced to the Kanawha Valley . 36 

Some Facts which the Progress of the War has Developed, 

two Letters, July 2.4, and 27, 1861 (to Cincinnati Com.) 38 

Proceedings Inaugurated by the Loyal Citizens of the Pan 
Handle— The Meeting at the Court House at Wfellsburg 
—The Procurement of Arms and Ammunition from the 
Government, by the citizens of Brooke County— A Mass 
meeting at Wheeling, May 14, 1861, and Resultant Con- 
vention at same place, June 11, which Re-organized the 
State Government, and Inaugurated Measures for Erect- 
ing the New State . . . . . 41 

y. S. Attorney General Bates' Letter to Mr. Ritchie, A^ust 
12, 1 861, declaring the New State measure a new act of 
Revolution, &c. .... . 48 

My Reply to Attorney General Bates, through the Wheeling 
Intelligencer and N. Y. Evening Post — two Letters, Aug. 
29, and Sept. 7, 1861 .... 50 



vi 



CONTENTS. 



l.'AGE. 

The Election, the 4th Thursday in October following ? and the 
Result — The Rebel Raid on Guyandotte November 10 
and Retaliatory Burning of the town next day . 57 

Meeting and Organization, the 26th November of the Conven- 
tion, to form a Constitution— its members . 58 

Remarks Submitted by the Writer to the Convention on the 
following subjects, viz : On Its Power to Remove Bound- 
aries the former Convention had fixed . . 59 

Can Treason be Committed against a State, under our System 

of Gqyernrrient ? . . . . . 62 

Qn the Size of the FJouse, and Mode of Apportioning f)ele- 

gates among the Counties an4 Relegate Districts . 66 

Qn the question of allowing tfye Legislature to give the State's 

Aid to \yorks of Internal Improvements . . 70 

On a Proposition to Prohibit Ministers, Priests, and Salaried 
Officers of Banking Companies, holding seats in either 
House of the Legislature - . . . 72 

Pn Gradual Abolishment of Slavery . . . 73 

Mr. Battelle's Resolutions on this Subject, and What became 

of them .... . . 76. 

The Writer's Form of Instruction for the Taking the sense of 
the Voters on this Subject, when they should vote on the 
Constitution, and What was done with it * . 78 

The Writer's Address to his Constituents . . 79 

What the Wheeling Intelligencer said of it . . 8^ 

Touching the Powers of the Legislature when it should be 

Convened . . .87 

The Grand Response of Upshur County . . 92 

The Effect, and what followed in other Counties, where the 

People had a chance to Express themselves . 94 

What the Wellsburg Herald said of this Informal Vote of 

Instruction . . . 95 

What the Wheeling Intelligencer said of the same . 96 

The Friends endeavor to have the Legislature annex a Gradual 

Emancipation Clause to its Consent, if given . 98 

The Writer's Letters with that View to the Wheeling Intelli- 
gencer ..... 98 

gol. Lightburn's Letter to the Intelligencer, April 30, 1862 105 



CONTENTS. 



Til 



PAGE. 

Trie Writer's Letters' to the Intelligencer, May i, 3, and io, 
1862, giving reasons and Authorities for the Legis- 
lature giving such a Consent : . io6 

Our Failure before the Legislature . 116' 

The Writer's Letter to ttfe Wheeling Press, May 15, 1862 116' 

To the Wheeling Intelligencer of May 17, 1862 . 117 

General Kenton Harper's (of Augusta County, Va.,) Appeal 

for "Free Fighters'' . ; . 126 

A Noble and Inspiring Letter from' a Citizen of Monongalia 

County, signed "M" . . . 121 

An Appeal in Behalf of the Loyai people of W£st Virginia, to 

Congress,. May 22, 1862, and h s o'w it Was disposed of 123 

What the Commissioners appointed by the Convention had 
hitherto accomplished towards gettin'g Congress, to' ad- 
mit the New State' . . ." 135 

The Course taken' by the' Waiter— with the Results 140 

The Condition in which the measure wa's found on arriving at 

Washington June 28, 1862 . . 141 

Two Letters in Behalf of the Loyal people of West Virginian- 
through the National Republican to Congress, July 8 and 
10 . . . . . 143 

What took place in' the Senate — Rem'arks of Senators— Clos- 
ing Remarks of Senator Wade, and Votes on Intermedi- 
ate; and the Final Question .' . . 147 

Who were our Active Friends in the Senate— Tribute of Re- 
spect through - the Wheeling Intelligencer, to Mr/ Wade 157 

How the Friends Felt— The Rebellion to be Crushed, or all 
would be ashes — -Proposed New State expected to raise 
her quota of the 300,000 fresh recruits called for . 158' 

The Writer's Remarks at a Recruiting Meeting from both 

sides of the Ohio River . . . . 158 

The Aspiring New State, no less' than Ohio/ raised her quota' 16? 

Joint Resolutions passed by the Wheelings Legislature; in extra 
Session,- Dec. 9-, r862, asking the House to pass the Sen- 
ate Bill admitting West Virginia' without Amendment 167 

The Proceedings of the House the 9th and roth of December, 
1862 — Mr. Bingham's Closing Speech, and final v'o!e on 
the Bill . .- , . .- . . 1 

Its Consideration by the President and Cabinet, and Approv- 
al, December 31', r862 .* * . tSc 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



Mr. Carlisle's Supplemental Bill, February 14, 1863, and how- 
Disposed Of v . . . . 186 

The Re-assembling of the Convention, Feb. 18, 1S63, and its 
Action, with some Remarks by the Writer favoring Com- 
pensation to Loyal Slaveholders . . . 187 

The Convention and People unanimously Ratify the Congres- 

sidnatl Airieudnient : . . .193 

The Organization of the New Government, June 20, 1863 — Its 

PriricipaLl Officers and Election of U. S. Senators 194 

The Union Victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg — The Reb- 
els, through their Allies throughout the Loyal States make 
desperate efforts to divide, and dishearten the Loyal Peo- 
ple at home — Vallandighanl Smuggled from Dixie, 
(whence he had been banished) into Ohio, and Proclaim- 
ed their Candidate for trie Governorship of that State— 
Hon. John Brough became the Lo'yal peoples' Candidate 195 

Remarks submitted by the Writer, on the Nature and Excel- 
lence of our Political System— The Disturbing Cause, 
July, 1863 ... .196 

His reply through the fronton (O.) Register, to the letter of Hon. 
Reverdy Johnson, to the N. Y. Committee, touching Po- 
litical Arrests, the Freedom of Speech and the Press, &c 212 

Through the same Journal, October 8, 1863, the Loyal People 

of West Virginia to their friends' in Ohio . 221 

Result of the Election 1 , Oct. 13, iri the State, Lawrence county 
atrid Union township — the latter having cast its entire, vote 
for Brough became^ the banner township of the State, and 
was presented with a beautiful flag, bearing this motto, 
^All hail the township where' Treason finds no resting 
place" . . . . .223 

The Proceedings at the Presentation . . . 224 

The Presidential Canvass in 1864 . . . 226 

The Chicago Convention— Its Platform — What it is — Three 

Letters,- September 6, 9, and 12, 1864 . . 227 

The Approaching Presidential Flection — Three^ letters, Octo- 
ber 7, to atad ri, 1864 : . . . . 236 

The Result of the Presidential Flection, November 8 — The 
desperate Mea'snres resorted to by the Confederates after- 
Wards, atari th l err ritaal Surrender . . 247 



CONTENTS. 



tx 



j;ai;k. 

Remarks touching matters of Public Interest, that have occur- 
red since— What West Virginia Did . . 253 

The Political status of the Rebels of this State-— Have they 
the right to yQt@ ? , . 

'1'he Result qf our State Election in October, 1865 . 259 

Remarks on Judge Loomis' Instruction to the Grand Jury of 
Roane County, upon the Voters Test Oath T-aw, Decem- 
ber §, 1865 ? 6c ? 

Remarks oq the Legal status of Berkeley and Jefferson Coun- 
ties, throng}] the Wheeling Intelligencer, September, 1865, 
two letters .... 266 

Remarks on the State's Interest in Public Improvements with- 
in her Boundaries— AVhat to do with It , 273 

Judge Thomas W. liarrison-^The Registration Law-^Arm- 

strong Case, ^c .... 276 

The Debt of Virginia-^Who Should pay It ? Two Letters, 

December 24-26, 1866 . . . 289 

West Virginia Land Titles — Their Confusion and the Depres- 
sing Effect— A Remedy Rroposed-^-Three Letters, Dec. 
31, 186^, and January 1 and 3, 1867 , 293 

Ought the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. to be assessed and 

made to pay its just share qf Taxes ? Two letters • 308 

Our Insane Hospital— Three Letters . 313 

The Chesapeake & Qhio Railroad Company— ^The Danger to 

be Apprehended— The Duty of quj Commissioners 323 

West Virginia Penitentiary— Two Letters , . 327 

Horace Greeley and Jefferson Davis— The Representative men 

of the Irrepressible ConflictWTwo Letters . 331 

The proposed Railroad and the Water Line to connect the 

Ohio River with Tide water, &c. , . 336 

r Lhe Covington & Ohio Railroad — Can the Virginia Central. 

Build It ? . . . . 342 

Agricultural College of West Virginia--- Two Letters , 346 

Our System of Government— Wha^t is It? Three Letters. 352 

The Impeachment of the President — .What is it for ? 4 Letters 370 

The Chicago Platform in }868 and its Candidates . 382 

The Crisis— What should honest men do to save the Government? 387 
Amendments proposed to our National Constitution, by the 

Writer . 300 



X 



CONTENTS. 



"Troo Loilty" — It is too Expensive for us to Keep — 3 ■ Letters #0$ 
Enforcement Act passed by Congress — Its Construction and 

effect — Four Letters . . 411 

Flick Amendment, Enfranchising ex-Rebels — Two Letters 418 
How our Peculiar form of Government requires its Youth to 

be Educated . . . . 432 

How Important it is that we have Correct ideas of God 425 
The Bible in our Free Schools . . . 428 

The Amendment to our National Constitution proposed by the 

Evangelical Churches of the Country — Lour Letters 432 
The Proposed State Constitutional Convention — Should it be 
Called ? The Address of the Democratic State Executive 
Committee to the People — Three Letters . . 443 

The Proposed Constitution to be voted on the Fourth Thurs- 
day of August, 1872 — Four Letters . . 457 
The final vote of the People, as proclaimed by the Governor, 
with the Editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer's remarks 
on the Subject . . . .471 
Plan for a Free School System in this State — Two Letters 473 
The Plymouth Church Scandal — Its "Great Preacher" Speaks 

at Last (Letter to the Wheeling Intelligencer, June 10/73) 47^ 
What occurred afterwards in my relation with that Journal on 
the Subject — The recent judicial uncovering of that 
Church, its "Great Preacher," &c. — with what seems to be 
the lesson it ought to teach the male heads of American 
families . . .481 

The Death of ex-President Johnson . . 482 



RESOLUTIONS IN REGARD TO THE JOHN BROWN RAID 
ON HARPER'S FERRY, UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED AT 
A MEETING OF THE CITIZENS OF GUYANDOTTE 
AND VICINITY, DECEMBER 12, 1859. 

Whereas The recent atrocities committed at Harper's Ferry, 
the conduct of our authorities, both civil and military, relating there- 
to, and the move made in other States — demand it) our judgment, a 
calm, full, and earnest expression of the. sentiments of our people: 
Therefore Resolved,-^— 

First : That the recen^ a^dacipus andi unprovoked aggression of 
John Brown and his .associates upon the laws and dignity of out- 
State, and the rjgft^s guar^ntee-fj.to its hjy the Federal Constitution — 
merits the unqualified Reprobation o( all men, wherever resident, 
who believe in the common rights of Humanity, or, that the Constitu- 
tion and .Union are worth preserving ; and that the existence of an 
oppqsite sentiment on this subject, whether expressly, avowed, or 
necessarily implied, denotes the greatest perversion of tjae moral, or 
derangement of the intellectual faculty. . >.," 

Second: That as citizens of the State thus assailed^ and enter- 
taining these views, whether living upon the banks of the Ohio, 01 
the shores of the Chesapeake— we know of but one course to pur- 
sue, and, that is, to repel at all hazards. 

Third: That the conduct in this emergency of Governor Wise 
and other officers, Judicial, Executive and Military, has our unquali- 
fied approval— they having represented faithfully throughout, the 
prudence and calm determination, the high respect for law, and hu- 
manity, of our people. 



Fourth : That while we have witnessed with feelings of the 
deepest sorrow, manifestations in some of our sister States, approv- 
ing the treasonable and murderous attack, which unrebuked, would 
imply general acquiescence-^we hail with corresponding joy every 
instance of its condemnation: 

Fifth : That we in dbmmbn with the slave and non-slaveholding 
portions of the people of onr State, solemnly protest against any 
foreign, or outside interference with the slaves of Virginia ; and con- 
jure our fellow citizens of other States, by all that is sacred in the 
ties of country and kindred, worth our* re4iiembr ; ance-* in the past, 
valuable to us in the present, or worthy 6uf s hope irV trie future, to 
le*ave this subject rb J Our own management— believing, as we relig- 
iously dcythat all foreign j» outside interference tends only to the per- 
manent injury of both Bond and Free, and to bias and 1 becloud with 
passioir and prejudice that arbiter, to whose- decision" alone the Fed- 
eral Constitution; the voice of mankind,- and- the will' of the Almighty, 
have committed^ it— d- clear perception of our ditfri best Me f est. 

Sixth: That' as Virginians, every irtCrTof her 1 soil is dear and 
sacred to us ; and- while we partake of heV preseYit blessings, and 
past glory, we pledge our all to her defence— with unshaken confi- 
dence, that by a seasonable removal of unjust discrimination now 
existing among her great interest, a libe r al, enlightened and active 
policy in completing her works of Internal Improvement, increasing 
her Home Manufacture, fostering her Commerce, and encouraging, 
with her Military, the Mechanic Arts — our beloved Commonwealth 
will yet become, as she has ever been in the Cabinet and the Field, 
first also in point of Wealth and Material greatness. 

SsVenth : That we-beheve^ there is no natural, or necessary an- 
tagonism in-our vast; 'and asVet but partially developed and sparsely 
settled cbuntfv^-^between f^ee and slave labor ; but that the two sys- 
tems, if let alone, will long continue to adjust themselves to the wants 
of the country, with entire harmony, and the happy effects to our 
National prosperity and happiness, heretofore experienced : That 
what is termed the^Trrepressible^ Conflict" can have no existence in 
f&ct, while- our country needs, as it does now, a hundred laborers 
where it has one, free and slave included; but has been gotten up 
and promulgated by unpatriotic men, North and South, in order to 
ex-eite-and divide the people, and serve their own selfish ends. 



3 



LAST APPEAL OF THE PEOPLE OF CABELL COUNTY 
AND VICINITY, TO THE RIC^^QND LEGISLATURE, 
JANUARY, i860. 

To the General Assembly of Virginia : 

Whereas The undersigned, being legal voters, residing along the 
western, and in the present alarinipg crisis— the frontier border of 
the State, and seperated at present (unless the unfrozen and suffi- 
ciently deep waters of the Ohio shall admit our going round by the 
improvements of other States) about six days journey from our Cap- 
itol — the only proper place to look fp,r succor in time of need ; and 
whereas the recent audacious assault uppn Harper's Ferry appeals 
to our people to fortify and strengthen, by all the means in their 
power — we would respectfully, but earnestly urge upqn your Honora- 
ble body, the imperative necessity of conjpletipg at once the Coving- 
ton and Ohio Railroad to the Kentucky line — for the following 
reasons : 

First : It will bring that portion of the cis- Alleghany 
branch of the family, now so alien by position, b,uf: not as yet in affec- 
tion, in close and easy communication with the paternal head — to 
promptly give and receive succor, and exchange daily congratulations 
and favors — which tend so much to make a Great People in heart 
and in purpose, one. 

Second : While we regard all the great interests of the State, and 
every section thereof, entitled to equal protection and favor from the 
Legislature ; and reflect that our broad, and as yet — for want of ad- 
equate outlets — very imperfectly developed section of country — has 
for many years been subjected to heavy, and. in some instances, un- 
equal and unjust taxation — to help build up Railroads and Canals in- 
other parts of the State — we feel it to be our just right, arising from 
adequate consideration already rendered, to have the Covington and 
Ohio Railroad promptly completed. 

Third: But rising above sectional and personal considerations, 
we, say the sound policy of the State, and whole South, repeat the de- 
mand. The State, because it will unite more closely to the Maternal 
head, by bonds of interest and affection, a large and growing section, 
now the most exposed, and yet beyond the rear], of giving, Or re 
ceiving seasonable aid — and thereby increase her Military strength. 



4 



It will place hei Commercial and Manufacturing cities in direct, ex- 
peditious and cheap communication with the great West — the produce 
and trade of which Have mainly built up, land now sustain in all their 
pride and greatness, the cities on our North. It will materially help 
to make Norfolk' a great depot, and when this takes place, direct 
trade with the ports of Europe will spontaneously and at once spring 
up — as that city Will then be able - with riecessary despatch to collect 
arid load, arid discharge ! and distribute, the cargoes of Ocean-going 
ships*. It will open both East and West, cheap and expeditious out- 
lets, and thereby help to develop! and turn into money, her vast min- 
eral stores, and greatly enhance her Agricultural' wealth. The pow- 
er of the thousand "waterfalls; along the line will become a most 
effective auxilliary in building tip Home manufacture — so neces- 
sary to her independence 1 — and in fine it will be '^6 her present un- 
finished system of Improvements, and to her people, a quickening 
spirit— -infusing inio them new life; and inspire her^people with that 
love of Industry, arid the Practical Industrial Arts, which has made 
England, the progenitor of us all— "what 'kriglarid is 

Its speedy 'completion will greatly strengthen and enhance the 
interest, independence" and " convenience Of the whole South, by es- 
tablishing mr Southern soil 1 , up6nth£ -Atlantic, great Commercial and 
Manufacturing depots, with a crieap, quick and safe " access thereto, 
and to our 'Springs and Watering places— for every Species of propctiy. 
1 Fourth : The completion of this road will give to itself and the 
entire 1 system of Improvements, including the water l line, with which 
it is to connect, and form the maiii trunk arid teeder-^some now in 
decay, and all a languishing burden — a Vital and' highly remunerative 
existence — that sha'lF sobiV extinguish the Public Debt* To delay, 
- therefore, seems to L us "'in this point of view merely, as unwise and 
suicidalV'as'rt wo did be for an individual to delay the opening of the 
main Sluice to the Reservoir, after having dug all the ramifications 
to irrigate his extensive Farm ; or to complete the last rod of an ex- 
tensive Toll Bridge, which should connect it with the opposite 
shore. 

Fifth : It is equally as necessary in our mind, that the appro- 
priation should be expended simultaneously, and in equal propor- 
tions at least, at the East and West ends. For an additional million 
expended during the next two years in tunnelling the Alleghanies, will 
scarcely be perceptible to anybody, while that sum expended on the 
Western end, will save the half million now fast going to decay, open 



a cheap outlet to the Ohio to a large portion of our people, for their 
Mineral and Agricultural products, and from the easy grade of this 
section, will overcome to some extent the obstacles that now seper- 
ate us. 

These are our firm convictions on this vitally important subject, 
formed upon careful and mature consideration ; and having express- 
ed them earnestly and in respectful terms to your Honorable Body, 
which alone has the power to act — our duty ends for the present — 
the rest is with you. 

This Memorial was numerously signed and forwarded to Rich- 
mond, but the prayer was unheeded. The entire appropriation 
made, was ordered to be expended on the East end. I think this 
was our last appeal to the Richmond Legislature. 



In reply to a long and labored article that appealed in the New 
York Courier and Enquirer, of the 20th of November, i860, with 
Massachusetts' "Personal Liberty Laws" annexed— -assuming to 
show the same were not in violation of the United States Constitution 
or Laws, I sent to the Boston Courier the following fetters, which 
are preceded by the Massachusetts Laws, and the Ector's prefatory 
remarks. For the laws of Congress on the same subject in force 
at the time, reference is made to Brightly's Digest, page 294. 

From the New York Courier and Enquirer, November 20, i860. 
"FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT AND PERSONAL LIBERTY LAWS. 

"We have said that there is no law in any Northern State nullifying 
the Fugitive Slave Law. We proceed to prove it. We will give the; 
Massachusetts law, which is known as a Personal Liberty Law, in 



6 



full, as it contains the pith and substance of all the laws of a similar 
character in other States. We will give abstracts of like laws in 
other States, and then show that not one of them nullifies the Fugi- 
tive Slave Law. 

We copy from the Revised Code of Massachusetts : 

REVISED CODE OF MASSACHUSETTS. CHAPTER 144. 

57. The Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Council, shall appoint in every county one or more commissioners, 
(earned in the law, who shall, in their respective counties, when any 
person is arrested or seized, or in danger of being arrested or seized, 
as a fugitive from service or labor, on being informed thereof, dili- 
gently and faithfully use all lawful means to protect and defend such 
alleged fugitive, and secure to him a fair and impartial trial by jury, 
and the benefits of the provisions of this chapter ; and any attorney 
'whose services are desired by the alleged fugitive may also act as 
counsel. (Act 1855, 489, § 17.) 

58. The commissioners shall defray all expenses of witnesses, 
clerks' fees, and officers' fees, and other expenses which may be in- 
curred in the protection and defence of any person so seized or ar- 
rested ; and the same, together with the reasonable charges of the 
commissioners for their services as attorneys and counsel, shall be 
paid from the treasury of the Commonwealth on a warrant to be 

issued by the Governor. (Act of 1855, § 18, p. 489.) 

* • 

§. 59. No person while holding any office of honor, trust, or 
emolument, under the laws of this State, shall in any capacity take 
cognizance of any case, issue any warrant or other process, or grant 
any certificate, under or by virtue of an act of Congress approved 
the twelfth day of February, in the year 1793, entitled "An act re- 
specting fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the service 
of their masters," or under or by virtue of an act of Congress ap- 
proved the eighteenth day of September, 1850, entitled "An act to 
amend, and supplementary to 'An act respecting fugitives from jus- 
tice and persons escaping from the service of their masters,' " or 
shall, in any capacity, serve such warrant or other process. Any 
justice of the peace who shall offend against the provisions of this 
section, by directly or indirectly acting in such cases, shall forfeit a 
sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned in jail not 
exceeding one year, for each offence. (Acts of 1843, page 69, § 3? 
and 1855, page 489, § 1, 9.) 



60. No jail, prison, or other place of confinement belonging 
to or used by the State, or any county therein, shall be used for the 
detention or imprisonment of any person accused or convicted of an 
offence created by either of the acts of Congress mentioned in the 
preceding section, or accused or convicted of obstructing or resisting 
any process, warrant, or order issued under either of said acts, or 
of rescuing, or attempting to rescue, any person arrested or detained 
under any of the provisions of either of said acts,' nor for the im- 
prisonment of a person arrested on mesne process or execution in a 
suit for damages or penalties accruing, or claimed to accrue/ in con- 
sequence of aid rendered to any fugitive escaping from service or 
labor. (Acts of 1843, page 69, and 1855, page 489, § 19.) 

61. Whoever shall remove from the limits of this State, or as- 
sist in removing therefrom, or come into the State with the intention 
of removing or assisting in the removing therefrom, or procure or as- 
sist in procuring to be so removed, any , peYson being in the peace 
thereof, who is not held to service or labor by the "party" making 
"claim," or who has not "escaped*' from 5 th£ party making "claim.", 
or whose service or labor is not "due" to the "party" making "claim" 
within the meaning of th'ose words in the' Constitution of the' riited' 
States, on the pretence" that such person is so held or tias so escap- 
ed, or that his "service or labor" is so "due," or with the" intent to 
subject him to such "service or labor," shall be punished by fine not 
less than one thousand nor more than five thousand dollars, and by 
imprisonment in the State prison not less than one nor more than five 
years. And any person sustaining wrong or injury by any proceed- 
ing punishable as aforesaid, may also maintain ah action" aricT recover 
damages therefor.' (Act 1B55, 489, sections 7, S.) } 

§. 62. Any sheriff, deputy sheriff,' jailor, coroner', constable, or 
other officer of this State, or of the" police of any city or town, or 
any district, county, city, or* town officer, or any officer or other mem- 
ber of the volunteer militia of this State, who shall hereafter arrest, 
imprison, detain, or return, or aid in arresting, imprisoning, detain- 
ing, or returning, any person for the reason that he is claimed or ad- 
judged to be a fugitive from service or labor, shall be punished by 
fine not less than one thousand and not exceeding two thousand dol- 
lars, and by imprisonment in the State Prison for not less than one 
nor more than two years. (Acts 1843, 69, sec. 33 ; 1855, 489, sees. 

63. The volunteer militia shall not act in any manner in the 



8 



seizure, detention, or rendition of a person for the reason that he is 
claimed or adjudged to be a fugitive from service or labor. Any 
member thereof who shall offend against the provisions of this sec- 
tion shall be punished by jine not less than one thousand and not ex- 
ceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment in the State Prison 
for not less than one nor mote than two years. (Act of 1855, 489, 
section 16.) 

64. The penalties prescribed by the two preceding sections 
shall not apply to any act of military obedience and subordination 
performed by any officer or private of the militia. (Act of 1858, 
175, section 2.) 

65. Nothing in the eight preceding sections, nor in sections 
nineteen, twenty, and twenty-one, shall be construed to apply to so 
much of the act of Congress of the twelfth of February, 1793, as 
relates to fugitives from justice. (Act of 1855, 489, 21.) 

66. No person holding a judicial office under the laws of the 
United States, or the office of Commissioner of the Circuit Court of 
the United States, shall hold any judicial office under the Constitu- 
tion and laws of this State, except that of Justice of the Peace. No 
Justice of the Peace, while holding the office of Commissioner of 
the United States Circuit Court, sliall have authority to grant any 
warrant, or to issue any process, civil or criniinal, other than sum- 
monses to witnesses, or hear and try any cause, civil or criminal, un- 
der the laws of this State. (Act of 185$, 175, set. 1.)" 



OUR FATHERS' BOND.^No. ?. 

My Friends and Fallow Citizens of Massachusetts,: 

It is natural for the dearest memories of life to cluster around the 
place of our birth, and graves of our Ancestors. For here upon the 
unsoiled tablets of our vouthful minds are indelibly daguerreotyped 
the pleasantest impressions, by the rays of Love from Parents whose 
ashes sanctify their graves. 

If the spot happens to be known to fame, or 'to be hallowed in the 
annals of our country by the heroic and patriotic deeds of these 
Ancestors, a just pride naturally adds strength to the attachment. 
No Massachusetts boy needs to be reminded how prominent and 



9 



glorious in those annals are Boston, Lexington, Concord, and Bunker 
Hill, or the Actors in those scenes. The world knows them by 
heart — and hence it is, that however long or remotely separated I am 
from my native State, my anxious solicitude for her glory and welfare 
does not abate. And while I claim with pride, as a just inheritance, 
a share in her past glory, I deplore, with the deepest filial sorrow, 
her present standing in the Union, and in relation to our Fathers' 
Bond, the Constitution, that forms that Union. 

To establish and perfect this Union for themselves and posterity, 
the Fathers, (the brightest constellation of great men that ever lived) 
sacrificed their treasure, ease, comfort, and in fact their whole lives. 

Look now for a moment to the fruits this Union has produced in 
the short space of eighty-four years. From the thirteen feeble and 
discordant Colonies, it has swelled to thirty-three States ; each an 
Empire, or containing the elements of one, within itself; each with a 
Republican form of Government, self-acting and independent, except 
so far as restrained by our Fathers' Bond, the Federal Constitution. 
This, Bond also established a Republican form of Government for 
Imperial and( General purposes, resting for support immediately upon 
the People of all trie States, from whom it derived its powers ; and 
is also self-acting and entirely Supreme, within the scope of the pow- 
ers granted it. 

This Federal Government is charged with the care of the People 
of the United ^States as a unit, to be the impartial Guardian and 
Protector of all — the People of each State being left free to conduct 
and manage through their respective State Governmehts, all their 
local and domestic matters, as the soil, climate, and resources of 
their particular State shall in their judgment require; provided al- 
ways they do not encroach upon, or obstruct the due execution of 
the Federal powers, whicfy are in all cases within the scope of pow- 
ers granted it, Supreme. 

Under the workings of this transcendantly wise System, our Terri- 
tory has expanded from narrow strips along the Eastern and Western 
Slopes of the Alleghanies, to the Pacific — our People from three to 
about thirty millions — our Cities, from, one, Philadelphia — then num- 
bering 40,000 inhabitants, to about one hundred and thirty ; with 
New York, now the third, and soon, if the Union is preserved, to be- 
come the first in the World. Our Commerce is second only to that 
of Great Britain. Our Tonnage, increased from a few inferior ves- 
B 



10 



sels, to over 5,000,000. Our annual Exports from comparatively 
nothing to about $300,000,000 ; and in fact the increase of every- 
thing else, which makes a People great, independent and happy, has 
been equally wonderful and hitherto unexampled in the World. Our 
flag known and honored by all Nations ; and even the isolated and 
heretolore sealed up people of the *East, have been recently 
allured to our shores — asking our friendship and alliance. 

Nor has the rapid extension of our Government over new Coun- 
tries and new peoples, occasioned any injurious competition or an- 
tagonism, in the working of the Great and vastly diversified Indus- 
trial interests, under its wonderful System ; but the whole have been 
characterized by that perfect harmony and reciprocity shown in the 
workings of the vital functions of a healthy animal body — no where 
too much, and every where enough — each part receiving and impart- 
ing vigor and nourishment — (save only here and there the grating jar 
of obstruction to the due execution of the Fugitive Slave Law.) 
Blessed with plentiful harvests, and general health ; at honorable 
Peace with all nations; and until within a few short weeks, every 
department of business prosperous, and our people full of hope and 
happiness. 

NW* — a Crisis is upon us ! Secession is attempted ; Revolution 
is invoked ; the whole Industrial and Commercial interests of the 
Country* are fast sinking into distrust and bankruptcy. Alarm is be- 
coming depicted on every countenance ; and all this National great- 
ness, happiness and hope, are threatened with desolation and ruin ! 

These apparently violent and startling phenomena must have an 
dHequate'caiise somewhere. For this we should diligently seek, if we 
I~fope c to effect a cure. Is it the recent election of Messrs. Lincoln 
arid Hamlin by Constitutional majorities ? By no means ; for this 
fact itself, cannot weigh a feather in any rational mind. It is the 
sectional character of these votes, with the well known causes that 
produced them, and the foreshadowed future, that have alarmed and 
roused the South. 

Sound reason naturally infers the future from the present and past. 
What then is the Present, and what has been the Past in relation to 
the all absorbing subject of African Slavery, which now embraces 
about 4,000,000 of African extraction, happily intermingling in the 
capacity of servants with the whites of fifteen States ? 



'japan. 



11 



At the formation of our Federal Constitution, the thirteen original 
Colonies, I think, held slaves ; but few along the Northern Border 
and thickening Southward. Interest and a sound political economy 
soon induced the Northern States to get rid of Slavery, either by 
selling South, or emancipation. An ancestor of mine had some sixty 
emancipated by a Court's decision of Massachusetts. I can well rer 
member, (as many of you must,) the fate of the emancipated negroes 
of your State. There was a time when "Nigger Hill" in Boston was 
as famous in that vicinity as Bunker Hill in Charleston, but for a 
very different cause. And the ridiculous caricatures of their Aboli- 
tion Day, derisively called "Bobolition Day" by the whites, too 
clearly show with what esteem the freed blacks were held by 
the people of Massachusetts, at that day. They soon vanished 
away like the Indian before a superior race. The census of 1850 
shows the increase of free blacks from 1840 to 1850, to have been 
only ten per cent ; while the increase of Slaves, during the same 
period, was thirty per cent. This is a very material and significant 
fact in determining which is the true normal condition pf the race. 

At the formation of the Constitution, Cotton, Rice and Sjugar, now 
the great staples of the South, were comparatively unknown in this 
country. My cotemporaries can remember when "India Cotton" 
was all we heard of. Our Southern Statesmen at that thne saw lit- 
tle chance in their States for future profitable employment of Slaves, 
and hence their recommendation of gradual emancipation, and hence 
as one reason their failure to make more ample and explicit provis- 
ions in the Constitution for this species of property. 

The great Cotton, Sugar, and Rice interests have all grown up 
since. The climate and soil suited to their successful culture, re- 
quired negro labor ; and hence their increase in value and numbers, 
from $100 to $1,500 in value, and from comparatively few in number, 
to about 4,000,000 — Virginia and other States, whose soil and climate 
were not fitted to raise these products, found it profitable to grow 
Slaves for Southern Markets, particularly after 1809, when Foreign 
importation was prohibited. Cotton has now become the clothing of the 
World. The Gulf States have hitherto proved its only successful produc- 
ers. Hence it has become "Lord Paramount" of the World, and Thrones 
and Principalities, it may be almost said, rest upon it. To this im- 
foreseen growth and demand for Cotton, and corresponding importance 
of African Slave Labor, the primary cause of our present troubles 
and dangers can mainly be traced ; for the Free States soon began 



12 



to question whether the Federal Constitution afforded, or contem- 
plated room for it ; while the constantly increasing stimulus of pow- 
erful interest urged the South — to ?nake room for it. Here began 
koine for^ years since the Conflict, which has continued to wax 
warmer' aricj 'Warmer, till the fearful Present! 

Both Free and Slave States continued to view the subject as one 
purely of Political Economy, until some twenty-five years since. 
When rriy conscience and education were formed and built up in 
Massachusetts, the subject of African Slavery had no place in any 
code of morals; in any Sermons, or Prayers of Pulpits, or lessons 
and teachings of the School-house, or under the Paternal rBof. 

It was a question then to be settled by profit and loss merely, 
there, as in the South. But since my day the subject Has been 
'elevatect to the "forum of Conscience :" first in the Free States by 
weak, or designing men, and' took the name of Abolitionism; which 
was at first very bdidus, often rotten-egged^ and shunned by Political 
Demagogues, as a pestilence. But as the 'subject was peculiarly 
fitted to arouse and enlist the feelings, and as ail the facts connected 
With ; the aefiial working of the Institution were too remote to admit 
of practical Correction— Utopian 'moralist's, and stormy preachers, too 
desirous bt" hotonety, esf3bused the subject as a hobby. It entered 
the Schooi-house, a'rid ascended the Pulpit, and began to become an 
element in forming and building up the conscience and education of 
the 'filing 'generation 1 .' Its progress was slow, however, until the 
name 1 1 was chahged to "Free Soilism" about 1848, soon after the 
acquisition of the Mexican Territory. The subject then became 
respectable, and entered most of the Pulpits and School-houses, was 
courted 1 by political demagogues, and soon began to ascend to the 
highest offices. 

It has entered so largely into the formation and building up of the 
consciences and education of the present generation, that I really 
believe very many in the Free States conscientiously look upon Afri- 
can Slavery as the greatest of moral evils, without any accessable 
means of becoming undeceived. 

This I look upon as the most alarming feature of the disease by 
far ; for the delusion has entered as a reality into the conscience, 
which is being daily worked upon by so large an array of interested 
and unscrupulous men, without the accessable means of correction. 
Meanwhile, on the other hand, the South in a spirit of retaliation, 



13 



and stimulated by great and increasing pecuniary interest, have form- 
ed and built up a directly opposite conscience, viz : That African 
Slavery is a great moral and political good to the blacks, at least ; 
and here we come to the fearful issue, now to be either compromised, 
or triecj by force of arms ! 

The South, holding in their hands the Cotton King, something of 
Which the North must have ; and the 4,000,000 blacks to be sup- 
ported and taken care of by somebody— will agree to abide by our 
Fathers' Bond, the Constitution, as their rights have been, or shall 
be, decided' by the Supreme Court, provided the Free States will do 
the same. ' 

To nothing short of this will the South ever submit. They will 
encounter disunion and death, rather than submit to injustice or 
dishonor. 

Now is it not right that the Free States should come to these 
terms ? What sacrifice will they have to uiake ? I am unable to see 
any. Fiorn my stand point the vital interest of every Free State lies 
in preserving the integrity of the Union. The South will still be 
content to confine herself to raising the raw material, (always the 
poorest paying part in the producing process) and exchange with 
the North for her manufactured articles, or pay the customary duties 
on whatever she imports, rather than forego the blessings of Union 
and open a Free Trade Alliance with England and France. All she 
asks is to be let alone, and secured in her Rights to the extent the 
Constitution guarantees. 

What substantial sacrifice, I repeat, does she ask the Free States 
to make ? Nothing, I affirm, but to keep inviolate our Fathers' 
Bond. To do that you will only have to abjure that false, artificial, 
and abnormal conscience, which cunning and designing men have 
studiously built up among you, upon a subject you can know but 
little of, and have no concern with, except faithfully to perform the 
requirements of the Bond as our Fathers intended. That is all. 
The acts of the Free States flatly contradict their professed humanity 
for the negroes. There exists too long and too strong an array of 
actual facts and conduct, towards that unfortunate race, to hang a 
doubt on, of the entire heartlessness of all such professions. 

Would true humanity for the blacks dictate the walling in of the 
present 4,000,000, that increase thirty per cent, every ten years, 



14 



to die out; or permit them to accompany their Masters, to enjoy 
fresh, virgin lands, in a congenial climate ? Mine would certainly 
dictate the latter. 

I have read in the New York Courier and Enquirer of the 20th 
ult., extracts from the so called "Personal Liberty Laws" now stand- 
ing on the Statute Books of Massachusetts and other Free States, 
and a long and labored article by the Editor, attempting to prove 
their entire consistency with the Federal Constitution and Fugitive 
Slave Laws passed by Congress in pursuance thereof — though he 
distinctly admits they amount to "Unfriendly Legislation." 

I never witnessed a more unsuccessful attempt. Nor did I know 
before that such rank nullification, not only in spirit and meaning, 
but in letter, existed on her Statute books. I learn also from the 
same source that Massachusetts was the first to pass these nullifica- 
tion laws, and that the other nullifying States only followed her exam- 
ple. It is her laws therefore I propose to test by the provisions of 
the Constitution in my next. 

Cabell County, Western Va., December 1, i860. 



OUR FATHERS' BOND.— NO. 2. 

My Friends and Fellow, Citizens of Massachusetts : 

In my former number I endeavored to give you what seemed to 
me to be the true diagnosis of our present National disease, from 
which our present imminent danger springs. I will now endeavor to 
convince you of some of the errors at least, you have been led to 
commit by reason thereof, with the hope you may correct them be- 
fore it shall be too late. 

The only clause in our Federal Constitution which relates to the 
Rendition of Fugitive Slaves is the following : 

"No person held to service or labor in one State under the Laws 
thereof, escapiug into another, shall, in consequence of any law or 
regulation therein be discharged from such services or labor, but 
shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service 
or labor may be due." 



15 



Article 6, Section 2, of the Federal Constitution is as follows : 

"This Constitution and the Laws of the United States, which shall 
be made in pursuance thereof, and all Treaties made, or which shall 
be made under the authority of the United States, shall be the 
supreme law of the land ; and the jfudges in every Stale shall be 
bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or Laws of any State to 
the contrary nohvithslanding." 

These clauses are characterized by the same simplicity, compre- 
hensiveness and precision of language that mark the other parts of 
that Instrument, as well as the other productions of Washington, 
Franklin, Hamilton, Madison, Pinckney, and their associates — 
all eminently practical — -and accustomed to say and write just what 
they meant in plain English/ so' that to be misunderstood, or miscon- 
strued, requires the labor arid pains. 

Now if my servant, owing' me service or labor for life, or my ap- 
prentice, owing me service or labor for a term of years, should es- 
cape to Massachusetts, what in'fhe" fair meaning and spirit of these 
Provisions of the Federal Constitution, would be the duty of the peo- 
ple of Massachusetts to do'; and What to abstain from doing? 
The clauses themselves answer botn branches of the inquiry : First, 
"he shall not be discharged by reason of any Law or regulation of 
Massachusetts." Hence any' attempt tb^etfecf His discharge, directly 
or indirectly, openly or covertly, by any act of her Legislature, her 
officers, or citizens, would violate this clause of the v Constitution, and 
involve all parties participating therein, in a breach' of their oaths to 
support the Federal Constitution,' the "Supreme Law of the Land." 
Having seen what it is their duty to abstain front doings the next in- 
quiry is, what does it enjoin on them to do ?' The" clause itself also 
answers this branch of the inquiry in equally Explicit terms, viz : he 
"shall be delivered vp on claim of the" person to whom such 
service or labor may be due." It'is unquestionably the duty of the 
claimant to first prove his title^to such Fugitive— but he can only be 
required to prove it in the manner the title to other property was re- 
quired to be proved by the rules of the Common Law as it existed 
at the adoption of the Constitution; at which time the testimony of one 
unimpeached witness wonlcl be sufficient, and depositions of absent 
witnesses were admissable. This would clearly be the rule for proof 
of title until such time as Congress, whose duty it is to see all rights 
secured by the Federal Constitution fully sustained and carried out — 
should prescribe other rules. 



16 



What is meant by the words "deliver up ?" They certainly imply 
action and not merely permission for the claimant to come and take 
his slave,, if he can find and catch him. What does Bail or Surety, 
in common cases, have co do in order to "deliver up" his principal ? 
He certainly has to catch his principal, and actually deliver him over 
to the officer or Court — and alike positive duty would be required on 
the part of the people of a State, to satisfy this clause of the Con- 
stitution according to its fair intendment and meaning^ 

But whose duty is it thus "to deliver up ?" It seems to me very 
clear, that this duty "to deliver up" rests upon the State in its cor- 
porate capacity — as well as on every citizen thereof — he being bound 
to assist in faithfully discharging a Constitutional duty resting on his 
State ; and being also a citizen of the United States, and bound by 
paramount obligation to support its Constitution — he may be ^awfully 
required, at all times, by either Sheriff or United States Marshal, 
to help form a posse to assist in such "delivering up." 

Any attempt therefore, on the part of any State to prevent or deter 
its citizens by the impositions of heavy fines, and infamous impris- 
onments, from faithfully and fully discharging this plain Constitution- 
al duty, would be atrocious indeed ! As it would thereby impose on 
its own citizens, the awful and justly abfyorent alterative of submitting 
to these heavy fines and infanwus imprisonments, or a violation of 
their Oaths to support the Federal Constitution { And it seems to me 
to be equally clear that it is the duty of the State in its corporate 
capacity, acting by, and through ifs Officers, to "deliver up" such 
fugitive ; for the same sentence, wtych forbids a State making any "law 
or regulation," '<to discharge" (which would be clearly a corporate 
act,) continues the same corporate duty, to "deliver up," which can 
be done only by and through its Officers. This seems to me to be 
the fair meaning and intendment of the Fugitive Slave clause in the 
Federal Constitutiqn, wfyen taken in connection with the othei clause 
before quoted. 

But it is stated by the Editor of the Courier and Enquirer in the 
article before referred to, that when Congress passed the Fugitive 
Slave laws and assumed to enforce and carry out the rights secured 
by the Federal Constitution, it thereby ousted and displaced the State 
jurisdiction, of the subject, and thereby absolved the State and all 
its citizens from further obligation to "deliver up," or to allow 
Federal authorities the use of State jails, Court Houses, &c, in con- 
nection with the subject ; and cites the case of Prigg, vs. Pennsyl- 



17 



vania. I have not seen this case, nor have I at hand the book con- 
taining it ; and cannot therefore say what the case undertakes to de- 
cide. There are doubtless cases, where legislation by Congress 
would oust the.. State jurisdiction on the same subject ; but I am 
wholly unable to see how any Act of Congress, whose powers are 
always subject to and limited by the Federal Constitution, can absolve 
a State, or its citizens from a positive duty, unconditionally imposed 
by the Federal Constitution itself — unless the creature be above its 
creator — the inferior, above the superior. 

There can be no cloubt but that this positive duty so imposed on 
the State, and its citizens, to "deliver up," by the Federal Constitu- 
tion — the Supreme Law — does continue until removed by the same 
high authority that imposed it, any law of Congress, or Constitution 
or laws of States to the contrary notwithstanding. And hence it is 
the duty of the State, in its corporate capacity, and all its citizens, to 
cordially co-operate with the Federal authorities in faithfully carrying 
out the Fugitive Slave Law, as our Fathers intended ; and to - extend 
the use of State Jails, &c, for the purpose. 

But where no such positive constitutional duty exists on a State, or 
its citizens, it seems to me equally clear, the Federal Government has 
no better right to State Jails, &c, than any one else ; nor any right 
to call on State officers as such ; but only as citizens of the United 
States, to which the citizens of every State owe a paramount allegi- 
ance. 

One word now as to the way the Editor says they contrive 
to work these "Personal Liberty Laws," so as to attain their end, 
without violating the Federal Constitution ! Which is as follows : — 
First, The Legislation by Congress,', that is the passage of the Fugi- 
tive Slave Laws of 1793 and 1850 ousted and displaced the State ju 7 , 
risdiction, and absolved the State and all its citizens from further ob- 
ligation tq ^deliver up." That is, the field is cleared for the Federal 
officers to come and take the fugitive, if they can find and catch 
him. The State enforces the withdrawal of all her citizens, and 
officers of every description, from Governor down to Town Constable, 
with her volunteer militia, by pecuniary fines not l^ss than one, nor 
more than two thousand dollars, and confinement in the State Prison 
from one to five years, and closes all her jails, &c. But . as soon as 
the claimant gets his warrant from the United States Commissioner, 
and places it in the hands of the United States Marshal, and enters 
the field — thus to all appearance cleared of obstruction — Lo ! from 
C 



18 



an unexpected quarter, a corps of Commissioners, "Learned in the 
Law," one or two from each County appointed by the Governor, and 
whose duty it is made to "protect" and defend all fugitives arrested, 
"or in danger of being arrested," and if caught, to secure to them 
a fair and impartial trial by a jury ! (The laws of Congress which 
these Commissioners so "learned in the law" claim to have displaced 
State jurisdiction and absolved all State duties, provide that all 
trials should be had before a United States Commissioner.) Still if 
in spite of the protecting care of these Commissioners, so "learned 
in the law," the United States Marshal happens to nab the fugitive, 
and have him in legal custody, these Commissioners, by some trans- 
cendental art, known only to the "higher-law" people, restore, in- 
stantaneously, the State jurisdiction / but not the duty and obliga- 
tion, to "deliver up !" and one of their number applies at once to a 
State Judge — makes oath that the fugitive "is illegally held" and 
procures a writ of habeas corpus and places it in the hands of a 
Sheriff, who brings the claimant, supposed Fugitive, and Marshal, 
before the State Judge — by virtue, as they say, of this other provision 
of the Federal Constitution, viz : "The privileges of the writ of 
habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless in cases of Rebellion 
or Invasion, the public safety shall require it." Overlooking the 
fact, that their invasion of, and resistence to, the Federal authority 
by arresting the United States Marshal, fugitive and claimant, create 
the very exigency which suspends the right to writ of habeas corpus. 
(Webster defines Rebellion, "A resistance to Lawful Authority.") 
By their "higher-law" however, they are enabled to get over these 
things. Having thus superseded the Federal proceedings, and Unit- 
ed States Commissioner, and gotten all hands before a State Judge, 
they encounter this other obstacle, viz : that this State Judge is a man 
who has a reputation and conscience to look out for, and has taken 
an oath to support the Federal Constitution ! They fear to trust 
him. Though from the earliest history of the Common Law, to the 
present time, in England and this Country, the writ of habeas corpus 
has always been tried and decided by the Judges, and never by a 
jury. But their "higher law" soon enables them to surmount this 
difficulty, by this other Clause of the Federal Constitution, viz : "Suits 
at Common Law, where the value in controversy shall exceed $20.00, 
the right of trial by jury, shall be preserved." "The value in contro- 
versy I" This makes its necessary to give a value to the fugitive ex- 
ceeding $20.00, which would imply "property in man !" Which all 



19 



"higher law" people deny. Nor can I be expected to tell how they 
get over this also, for their thoughts and ways are above ours ; but a 
"higher law" jury is always summoned, who discharge the fugitive^ 
and then follows inevitably the "dead-fail" to the unfortunate clai- 
mant ! For this verdict of the Jury and judgment upon it, becomes 
conclusive evidence against such claimant, that the supposed fugitive 
"did not escape," "or did not owe him service or labor," and that the 
claimant came into the State under "pretence," the Fugitive did. 
These facts established, and the claimant is inevitably subject to the 
heavy pecuniary fines and infamous penalties prescribed in the 6ist 
Section of the "Personal Liberty Laws ;" and these Commissioners, 
so "learned in the law" are ready to say to another unfortunate clai- 
mant, "Come walk into my parlor, little fly !" In many of these 
"Personal Liberty Laws," two witnesses are required to establish the 
claimant's title, though one has always been held sufficient in trials of 
other property ; and by the Common Law, depositions of absent wit^ 
nesses have always been admissible in trials of title to property ; but 
are denied by the "Personal Liberty Laws !■■ 

With all these embarrassments the claimant must fail, and become 
subject to the awful penalties. It renders the Fugitive Slave Law tQ 
all intents and purposes inoperative. It u nullification to all intents 
and purposes, and in a most treacherous and sneaking form, for it 
seeks to attain the object fully, and shirk a just, though awful respon- 
sibility. 

The Editor of the Courier and Enquirer states that the whole ob- 
ject and purpose of these laws were to prevent Kidnapping ! That 
there were men of wealth in New York and Boston, who are engaged 
in the Slave trade, and would not hesitate to kidnap and sell a free 
negro into Southern bondage ! I cannot tell what other moral mon- 
sters have been generated by this "higher law" conscience of late 
years, but I do know, that while I was acquainted with those cities, a 
Kidnapper was as rare as a South Sea Islander \ and there would 
have been as much necessity for Such Legislation to prevent depre- 
dations by one, as the other. So grave and heinous a charge against 
a large class of citizens, only shows to what an extremity an Editor 
may be pushed. 

Depend upon it my friends, there is a storm coming on. It is for 
your highest interest and honor to wipe, at once, this rank nullifica- 
tion from your Statute Book; and have your own hands clean and 



20 



your house in order. The recent victory of your party enables yott 
to do it without any sacrifice of pride, but purely as an act of patriot- 
ism and magnanimity. Besides, it should be the pleasure, as well as 
duty, of a worthy Leader to lead out at once, those her example has 
led into danger and error. The principles and platform laid down by 
the Hon. A. H. Stephens, in his great speech of advice to the Leg- 
islature of Georgia of the 14th ult., will, on one contingency, unite the 
entire South. The platform contains as one of its immovable planks, 
that the nullifying States, they having been the first to aggress, shall 
first recede. These principles are fast permeating all classes of our 
people, satisfying the understanding and conscience, and uniting the 
hearts of all. Should the nullifying States set about repealing at 
once their justly obnoxious and odious laws, a settlement may be 
effected and the Union preserved — but if not— a settlement will be re- 
garded unattainable, and redress sought in some form, by Revolution if 
no gentler means will serve. I can further say— speaking from no 
limited knowledge of her people— that the United South upon Mr. 
Stephen's platform — notwithstanding her supposed inherent weak- 
ness — will prove invincible; as she will have Right, the approbation 
of good men, and our Fathers' God, on her side. ' ' 

If I find time I will endeavor to show in another number, the 
ruinous effects such a withdrawal and loss of 12,000,000 consumers 
will have on all New England interests. 

Cabell County, Western Va., December 6, i860. 



OUR FATHERS' BOND.— NO. 3. 

My Friends and Fellow Citizens of Massachusetts : 

As it has been in my former, it will be my purpose in this num- 
ber, to address myself to the business and laboring classes, whose 
great purpose of life is, to make a good living for themselves and 
families, by honest means, and not to your present leading politicians, 
who are standing on tip-toe in large places once filled by Webster, 
Davis, Choate and their like, as mere indices, showing in their con- 
stituency either an extreme elevation above, or depression below, 
that standard of sound, practical common sense, which so peculiarly 



21 



distinguished those great men, as well as the Fathers who formed the 
Constitution ; nor your Utopian Moralists, nor one-ideaed Sensational 
Preachers, who, neglecting to feed the hungry at their own doors, are 
leading you captive after an abstract perfection in human institutions 
and affairs, which the Almighty has denied us in this world. Nor to 
subsidized Editors, nor six-penny Lawyers, who so framed your 
"Personal Liberty Laws" as to nullify completely the Federal Con- 
stitution, and laws of Congress made in pursuance thereof — without 
violating either ! 

I have lived too long and seen too much of the world to hope to 
effect any change in that quarter, for their bread and personal ag- 
grandisement lie there. It is the honest and industrious Capitalists, 
the Merchant and Mechanic, the owners of Real Estate in Cities 
and Towns, the Farmers, and owners of Stocks in Railroads and 
Factories, the Ship-owners, arid the great laboring classes, engaged in 
various departments of Manufacture, that I wish to address upon 
the inevitable results that will follow the withdrawal of the fifteen 
Slave States^ the 12,000,000, which are now the consumers of your 
manufactured articles, and the formation of a separate Confederacy, 
with a Free Trade Alliance with England and France. 

The withdrawal of two or three Cotton States will not effect this. 
It will require a withdrawal of all the Slave States. The Border 
Slave States, Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware 
will go with the Southern Confederacy. Their interest will be to do 
so, and so will be their feelings. The result will be to these Border 
States, they will become the great Manufacturing States of the South. 
They will retain the Slave Institution, but have in fact but few slaves. 
They will form thereby the bulwark between the Free and great raw 
material producing States South, in which slave labor will be almost 
exclusively employed. The raw material producing States will sym- 
pathise with and help all they can, these Border Manufacturing 
States ; and what they cannot supply, they will get from England 
and France, but nothing from New England; for there will exist 
for a long time at least a great Gulf between them, and prohibitory 
and retaliative Legislation will widen and deepen that Gulf. English 
ships and English sailors will do the carrying instead of yours. Di- 
rect trade will be at once established between Baltimore, Norfolk, 
Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans, with the ports of Europe. 
There will be no more going round by New York or Boston. New 
England will have to purchase her Cotton, &c, at an advanced 



22 



price, and pay cash. It is proposed to raise revenue to support the 
new Government by imposing an export duty on Cotton and other 
articles, the monopoly of which will warrant. 

I recently read an article from the London Chrofticle, stating that 
the withdrawal of American Cotton from their Markets for the space 
of three months would create Revolution ! 

•But if New England can still purchase Cotton at an advanced 
price, and pay cash— where ca^n s^ie Jfjind Markets for her surplus of 
manufactured goods, and all riianiifactured articles ? She can still 
go to China, Japan, ^Mexico and South America, in competition with 
England and France"; and for a while she would have the North 
Western States. But how soon a Free State becomes a Manufactur- 
ing State, at least to the extent of her own consumption. Look at 
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, already competing with New England in a 
variety of manufactured articles. And how long will it be before the 
other Free States will be in the same condition. Besides, these 
Western and North Western States have rich soil and genial climate, 
anal can raise abundance of provisions* But how will it be with New 
Englano!,' where ice and gfanite are the natural staples, and the soil is 
capable of producing but a small proportion of what the present in- 
habitants consume. 

When a Market for her Manufactured articles ceases, how can her 
people Live ! All experience shows that where Slavery exists to any 
great extent, Manufactures do not flourish. This labor can only be 
profitably employed in Agriculture, in raising the raw material, and 
has to depend upon others to furnish them with nearly all Manufact- 
ured articles, Clothing, Shoes, Agricultural Implements, Carriages, 
Household Furniture, &c, &c. 1 have only attempted to give you 
an outline of the picture ; your own particular knowledge can fill it up 
— as you know better than I can, who it is that consumes your Sur- 
plus of Manufactured articles, and furnishes Cargoes for your Ships, 
&c. 

It may be answered that Labor and Capital will remove to the 
Border States of Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland and Dela- 
ware, and manufacture in those States. This will be done to a great 
extent, I have no doubt. But they will have to leave behind their 
"higher law" notions, acknowledge the necessary imperfections of all 
human institutions, submit to make an honest endeavor to produce the 
greatest amount of real, practical happiness to all, with the least pos- 



23 



sible injury to any. This would all be done I have no doubt by these 
classes ; but what will become of the fixed properly of New England ? 
The Land, the Wharves, the Ware-houses, the Stores, the Dwellings, 
the Palaces, and even the Ships of her Commercial Cities, the Facto- 
ries and immense property of every description, dependant upon 
them, the Farming interests, Railroads, &c. ? 

It may also be answered that this discrimination against the Free 
States would soon give way to interest and convenience. But where 
the interest and convenience England and France have not the power 
to give, and will not give most gladly in exchange for Cotton aWd the 
monopoly of supplying them with all manufactured articles ? It' is 
hard to find in these days, whole peoples that are content to be mere 
"hewers of wood and drawers of water," as the mere producers of 
raw material are, when compared with the Manufacturer, Merchant 
and Carrier; The fifteen Slave States have hitherto been Such" con- 
tented peoples; owing entirely to African Slavery which? necessitates' 
it, and at the same time improves, or at least satisfies both Master 
and Slave ; while' thW Fi*ee States by the aid of a protective tariff, 
have been made hitherto the exclusive recipients of the cream part 
of the great industrial jbMducing processes of the pountry. All the 
South demanded in return, \#as simply to be let alpne in the enjoy- 
ments of that peculiar system 1 of rabbrV which produced this rare 
harmony of interest, so' e"riYichirig to the North. This the North has 
denied them ! An infatuation and' blindness to interest that has no 
parallel ! 

Besides, this unconstitutional and infatuated interiHedling with 
their peculiar system of labor: by the Free States, has now begotten 
a deep seated enmity in the People of the South. This feeling per- 
vades the non-Slave holding, as Well as Slave holding portions of our 
People. Neither can conceive of any other motive but to insult and 
wantonly annoy. Hence it has become contmon cause. And although in 
our State west of the Alleghanies, we have comparatively but little 
interest in Slaves, still a blow struck by the Free States upon any 
portion of the Slave holding States, would vibrate on every nerve, 
and rouse at once to arms. Nor do I think I can be mistaken as to 
the universality of this feeling. I think I know the People well. 
They are naturally generous, hospitable and confiding to those they 
esteem friends, but are the quickest anctanost resolute I ever knew, to 
resent injustice or insult. The whole People of the South feel such 
insult and aggression have been done to them by the People of the 



24 



Free States. Before this wanton intermedling with their Slaves, the 
People of the Slave States were never heard of ill-treating any man 
from the Free States. Their kindness and hospitality on the con- 
trary were universally known and acknowledged. I can recollect of 
glowing accounts of these qualities, given by a brother forty years 
ago, who had lived among them, and my own experience has con- 
firmed the truth and justice of his remarks. Ask yourselves then, 
what has produced this great change in the feelings of this People ? 
I have no doubt there are a small portion of the People of the Gulf 
States, following in the path long since marked out by Mr. Calhoun, 
the most captivating sophists this country ever produced, who desire 
separation at all hazards, but the great mass of the South are for the 
Union, if it can be preserved with justice and honor ; otherwise they 
are for separation. 

These few Separatists per se, are making every effort to unite the 
whole South with them. This is the great game that is now being 
played ; and it is for you to decide into whose hands, long disserta- 
tions on the "barbarism of Slavery," or the fiendish* and exultant ex- 
clamation of "grinding the Slave power with the heel of his boot," 
will play the cards. 

I have been intimately acquainted for nearly three years with the 
People along both sides of .the Ohio. These People are always on 
the very best of terms. They have a practical knowledge of the 
"Peculiar Institution," and a dissertation on its Barbarism, I have no 
idea, would be listened to by the People on either side of the River. 
They ask for the dissertations of no Utopian Moralists. I am re- 
joiced to see by a late number of the New York Courier and En^ 
quirer, that its Editor has been touched by the fire of his worthy 
ancestor, and is retracing his steps. My heart is with him in all he 
says of the blessings and glory of the Union. But I can say to him, 
no such glowing eulogy of the Union will satisfy in these times. A 
total repeal of the nullifying laws is what is now required, and a 
faithful discharge by the People, both North and South, of the great 
duties imposed on them by the federal Constitution, from which 
neither Congress, nor State Legislatures, nor Conventions can ab- 
solve; but only the People of the United States, the sovereign pow- 
er, that created the "Supreme Law of the Land," the Federal 
Constitution. Let the Editor effect this repeal and teach the People 
to respect their oaths and cordially discharge these important duties 



25 



to all their fellow citizens, and he may do much good. And when 
the People shall have learned to do this, like honest and earnest 
men, who love their country and appreciate the blessings of Union — 
all will be well. But 1 fear they will never learn this lesson from 
their subsidized and venal presses, nor wrangling demagogues, in or 
out of Congress — nor Utopian Moralists, nor one-ideaed Sensational 
Preachers, whose leader's Family, while attempting to drive Catholicism 
from the Mississippi Valley, established the first "underground Rail- 
road" between Kentucky and Ohio, and received a wound, from the 
smart of which both male and female have ever since poured ana- 
thamas — in prayer and sermon, in Essay and Romance, with all the 
embellishment and charms, the most gifted genius could bestow — but 
by reading the Constitution for themselves, with the like earnest and 
honest hearts and hard common sense, of the Fathers that made it. 
Western Virginia, December 10, i860. 



It was soon after these letters, the "solid men of Boston" and 
vicinity held a large meeting, at which the sentiments 1 had express- 
ed were approved, and Massachusetts' "Personal Liberty Laws" 
were denounced as being in violation of the National Constitution, 
and ought therefore, to be at once repealed. But the "higher law" 
people had control of the Legislature, and its action was too hesi- 
tating and slow, as appeared to me. These letters, though failing to 
secure all the concessions hoped for, served I think in some degree, 
to make her people more determined when the trial at arms come. 



A reply, through the Kanawha Republican, to the published 
resolutions and speeches of the late Hon. John J..* Allen, then Pres- 
ident of Virginia Court of Appeals, and the late. Hon. David Mc- 
1) 



26 

Comas, Judge of the Kanawha Circuit, who affirmed the Constitu- 
tional right of a State to secede from the Union. This reply I in- 
closed to the late Hon. George W. Summers, with permission to 
hand it to the editor of the Republican, if he thought its publication 
would do any good. Judge Summers approved, and it appeared in 
that paper. 



OUR NATIONAL CONSTITUTION— WHAT IS IT? 

Editor of Kanawha Republican : — I have just read the Resolu- 
tions and Speeches of the Hon. John J. Allen, and the Hon. 
David McComas. My respect for their personal and high judicial 
characters, raised' at once the hope of getting much trite light upon 
the great question, which forms rri'y caption, and is so vitally inter- 
esting at this time to the American people; and upon the most care- 
ful perusal I must say, I am disappointed. In the present Crisis the 
American People — the true and only source of power, who make and 
unmake Governments and Rulers — require to be put in possession of 
our Fathers* true ideal when they formed the Constitution ; or in oth- 
er words, of just what the Framers of that Instrument intended and 
meant at the time they made it. When fhey are fully possessed of 
this, they will be prepared to see wriat alteration', if any, is required 
to meet the present Crisis,' and to execute aright, the Sovereign 
power which they alone possess. 

True light therefore, is what the people need at this time from 
their Representative men. The occasion is too solemn and 
momentous for sophistry, however subtile and ingenious, or whether 
springing from deluded minds in' the North, or in the South. 

In order to interpret this instrument aright," the people should be 
placed at the stand point of our Fathers, with all their surroundings, 
as far as practicable ; and standing in that position should with earn- 
est and honest hearts and the hard practical common sense which so 
eminently characterized the Fathers, read for themselves the clear and 
unambiguous provisions of that Constitution. The almost superhu- 
man labor through which these Fathers had just passed, to achieve 
their independence, had fashioned and accustomed their whole beings 
to actual facts and stern realities; and they were pressed by the same 
stern necessities when they framed and established the great Charter, 
which was to make secure to themselves and posterity, the just fruits 



27 



and blessings of that victory. Every link in the great Chain of Union 
they thus formed, shows such to have been their character. 

From their stand point then, let us examine the Constitution and 
get it possible their true ideal — their true intention and meaning. It 
is undoubtedly true that prior to the Declaration of Independence, 
the thirteen Colonies were independent of each other, though all 
were united to one head — the Crown of Great Britain. To sever 
this common allegiance and accomplish and establish their Independ- 
ence, they united against the Mother Country. A common cause 
and great pressure from without, held them together at first. In 
1777-&, however, a Confederated written Union took place, entitled 
*' Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union." These articles 
were assented to and ratified by delegates in Congress, appointed by 
the Legislatures of the several States, These delegates in closing 
the "Articles of Confederation/' used this language: "And whereas 
it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World, to incline the hearts 
of the Legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve 
of, and to authorize us to ratify., said articles," &c. These represenat- 
tives, agents, or whatever other name they were called by, and not 
the people themselves, the Sovereign power — assented to, and rat- 
ified them. 

The leading and fundamental idea of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, and all political organizations since, has been, that in the peo- 
ple atetu resides, originally, all .sovereign power. When the allegiance 
of the thirteen different Colonies was absolved from the British 
Crown, the people thereof became thirteen distinct and independent 
bodies. Each of these distinct and independent bodies set to work 
at once to erect for themselves, separate and independent Govern- 
ments, then and now called State Governments, Each of the thirteen 
independent bodies shaped and formed its respective State Govern- 
ment as it pleased. These State Governments when formed, were 
only the creatures and agents of the respective bodies of people, 
who formed, and who could at any time, alter or abolish the creatures 
so formed. These creatures or agents, it was, that assented to and 
ratified the Articles — which was only a compact or league between 
the thirteen State Legislatures. 

The central governmental power created thereby, the Congress, 
had power to act only on these Legislatures, and not on the 
People themselves. This central power, the Congress, could make 
and enact laws, and the Articles of Confederation provided that the 



2fl 



States should obey them ; and still there was no way provided to en- 
force these laws against a refractory State, except by the other States 
declaring war against her. All the central government, the Congress, 
could do, was to recommend to the thirteen separate Legislatures for 
them to make their respective people observe its laws. The well 
known result was, that the greater part of these Legislatures refused 
to act, and the central government, the Confederation, became pow- 
erless. No money could be raised to pay the debt the late war had 
created, or defray the current expenses of government ; rivalries and 
disputes were daily springing up between the different States in rela- 
tion to commerce and other subjects, and the whole fruits of their 
long and glorious struggle with the Mother Country, were threatened 
with immediate dissolution and ruin. 

It was at this crisis that Mr. Madison wrote, "I hold it for a fun- 
damental point that an individual sovereignty of the States is utterly 
irreconcileable with the idea of an aggregate sovereignty. I think at 
the same time that the consolidation of the States into one single 
sovereignty is not less unattainable, than it would be inexpedient. 
Let it be tried, then, whether any middle ground may be taken 
which will at once support a due superiority of the national authority, 
and leave in force the local authorities so far as they can be subordi- 
riately useful " Mr. Edmund Randolph wrote : "Government should 
be able to defend itself against encroachments, and that it should be 
paramount to State Constitutions and have power to call forth the 
force of the Union against any member thereof failing 
to fulfil its duty." ' Mr. Pinckney of South Carolina, wrote, 
"That the States must be kept in due subordination to the Nation. 
That if the States were left to act of themselves in any case, it 
would be impossible to defend the National prerogatives." 

Amid these stern necessities it was that the Convention met at 
Philadelphia in 1787, and with George Washington in the Chair, 
they drafted and signed our present Constitution. The President in 
this wise, "George Washington, President and Deputy from Virgin- 
ia." The others signed their names merely, without stating in whose 
behalf they acted. 

In whose behalf, then, did these Deputies act ? The preamble of 
the Constitution itself answers conclusively, viz : 

"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a mo?e per- 
fect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for 



29 

the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the 
blessings of Liberty to ourselves and posterity, do ordain and estab- 
lish this Constitution for the United States of America." 

Then follows the Constitution with all its various provisions. If 
the work had stopped here even, the explicit language of the Pream- 
ble before recited would have required the necessary conclusion, that, 
"We, the People of the United States," in their individual capacity, 
and not the thirteen Bodies of People in their corporate capacity, 
were the real parties to the Instrument, acting through and by their 
deputies or agents. It would require a most violent and unnatural 
construction, to have held it a mere compact between the thirteen 
States, instead of a Constitution established by all the people of the 
United States. But at the time of the Deputies signing their names, 
they manifestly considered the Instrument as merely an escrow, or 
draft, without any force until assented to, and ratified by, the People 
themselves. And hence they passed a resolution to submit the same 
to Conventions of Delegates to be chosen in each State by the People 
thereof, and that as soon as the People of nine States should have as- 
sented to and ratified the same, it should take effect as to these Peo- 
ple, and steps should be taken to organize under it. 

Gen. Washington in his letter of the same date to Congress uses 
this language : "It is obviously impracticable iti the Federal Gov- 
ernment of these States to secure all rights of independent sovereign- 
ty in each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all. Individ- 
uals entering into society must give up a share of Liberty to secure 
the rest." * * * "In all our deliberation on this subject we kept 
steadily in our view, that which appears to us the great interest of 
every true American — The consolidation of our Union." 

In pursuance thereof, the people of the thirteen States in Conven- 
tions held in their respective States, assented to and ratified this 
Constitution in the following order: Delaware, December 7th, 1787 ; 
Pennsylvania, 12th December 1787; New Jersey, 18th December 
1787; Georgia, 2d January, 1788 ; Connecticut, 9th January, 1788; 
Massachusetts, 6th February, 1788; Maryland, 28th April, 1788; 
South Carolina, 23d May, 1788; New Hampshire, ist June, 1788; 
Virginia, 25th June, 1788; New York, 26th July, 1788; North Caro- 
lina, 21st November, 1789; Rhode Island, 29th May, 1790. Thus, 
the Legislatures of the thirteen States, that had comprised the Con- 
federation, consented to the change in the form of government, when 
they ordered Conventions of their respective peoples to ratify the 



30 



Constitution proposed. The Congress had before consented. This 
was all the Articles required. Besides, the people in their sovereign 
capacity were competent to make any change they chose, without 
the consent of their Legislatures. 

Now can there be the slightest doubt but that it was the purpose 
and meaning of this transaction to unite all the people of the thirteen 
States so fast as they assented to and ratified the Constitution, as 
one People, "consolidated" in one and the same Government, to the 
extent of the powers granted in the Constitution ? The people, 
when they met in their several Conventions, certainly held, or had 
the contrbl of, all the Sovereign power, whether residing in themselves, 
or previously delegated to their respective State Governments. It 
was competent for them, then, acting in these Conventions, to trans- 
fer to the Federal Government any portion of the Sovereignty they 
chose, and in doing so, if it became necessary for them to resume 
any portion before that delegated to their respective State Govern- 
ments, they unquestionably had the power to do it. They possessed 
or controlled all Sovereign power, and it was in this case distributed 
by them according to the established forms. The People became 
thereby citizens of two distinct Governments — their respective State, 
and the Federal Government, owing allegiance according to the rank 
or supremacy of their respective powers. The fact that the whole 
People of the thirteen States constituted thirteen distinct and inde- 
pendent Governments at the time the Deputies drafted the Constitu- 
tion, could not prevent, in any sense, their consolidating into one 
People to the extent of the Federal Powers granted, as fast as they 
ratified the Constitution. The process of consolidation proceeded 
pari passu with ratification, on the familiar principle of a subscrip- 
tion paper, headed, "We, the undersigned." The obligation attaches 
to the parties as they adopt and ratify by subscribing their names. 
The fact that the People of the United States ratified the Constitu- 
tion by convening in thirteen separate Conventions, called and regu- 
lated by their respective State Legislatures, instead of all meeting 
in one general Convention, or in Conventions got up irrespective of 
State lines, cannot alter the legal effect. The plan they adopted was 
the natural and most convenient mode, and any departure from it at 
that time, must have occasioned much inconvenience and confusion. 

The Federal as well as State Governments then are alike original 
and legitimate, and rest upon the people, who have expressly de- 
clared in their sovereign capacity "that the Federal Constitution and 



31 



Laws and Treaties of the United States, made in pursuance thereof, shall 
be the Supreme Law of the Land, the Constitution or laws of any 
State to the contrary notwithstanding," which constitutes a perfectly 
harmonious whole. The Federal Constitution established a perfect 
and complete Government, with its Legislative, Executive and Judi- 
cial Departments — self-acting, independent and supreme, within the 
scope of its Constitutional powers. These high powers were indis- 
pensably necessary for the proper discharge of the high and impe- 
rial duties with which it is charged : and was intended to be the faith- 
ful guardian and protector of all the people in whatever State resi- 
dent, as it was the creature and agent of all. Its Judiciary has juris- 
diction of all cases in law and equity arising under the Constitution'/ 
and the Laws and Treaties of the United States. 

Its Judges are the Judges of all the people, and they are sworn to 
support the Federal (Constitution. All State officers, before entering 
on the duties of their office, are required to take a similar oath; 
The peculiar nature and character of the provision's contained in' 
the Constitution, can shed no light upon the present inquiry, which is,' 
to ascertain who were the real' parties to' the instrimieiit. Arid if it 
had provided that th,& President and Vice-President should, have 
been appointed by the State Legislatures as the Senators how are, 
it would not have altered the (base, 1 so far as the present inquiry is 
concerned. 

But in the face of all these facts, it is gravely cqntencjed that this 
great work of Washington and his co-patriots, amounts to no more 
than the placing together in juxtaposition/ the thirteen independent 
bodies of people, then comprising the thirteen States, with no other 
bond of tjnion than their concurring wills at the moment, liable to be 
changed by the first movement of the Government, and each and all 
possessing the Constitutional power to fly off at pleasure, and resume 
all their former powers ! And is this the thing that the Father of 
his Country and his compeers got up with the express purpose of cur- 
ing the evils of the old Confederation, "to form a more perfect Union, 
to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the com- 
mon defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings 
of liberty to themselves and posterity ?" Is this the thing the people 
sought when they ordained and established a Constitution for the 
purpose above stated ? No. Their idea was what Washington said 
it was in his coteinporancous letter, to form a "consolidated Govern'- 



ment" of the whole people to the extent of the powers granted by 
the Constitution. 

As well may the mice undertake to undermine Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment, as the refined sophistry of the higher law pigmies of the North, 
or Secessionists of the South, undertake to change or efface this 
great and true Ideal, in the hearts of a hard sense people. Fortu- 
nate for such that the great arms now mouldering at Mt. Vernon, 
the Hermitage, at Ashland and Marshfield are not weilded by the 
will and fires of their former possessors. How sickly sentimental it 
is to see people purchase the Farm and Tomb of Washington to 
secure his ashes, while they fhijs labor to reduce to ruin the Consti- 
tution, the great work of his life ! 

And is there any thing in the peculiar form of ratification by the 
people of Virginia, June 26th, 1788, to vary their relation to the 
Government, or qualify the clear and explicit language of the Pre- 
amble of the Instrument. "We, the people of the United States in 
order, &c. ?" The following are the words of their ratification: 
"With these impressions, with a solemn appeal to the Teacher of 
Hearts, for the purity of our intentions, and under the conviction 
that whatever imperfections may exist in the Constitutions ought 
rather to be examined in the mode prescribed therein, than to bring 
the Union into danger by delay with a hope of obtaining amend- 
ments previous to the ratification. We, the said Delegates, in the 
name and behalf of the People of Virginia, do by these presents 
assent to, and ratify the Constitution recommended on the 17th day 
of September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, by the 
Federal Convention for the Government of the Uniied States, hereby 
announcing to all those whom it may concern' that the said Constitu- 
tion is binding upon said People according' to an authentic copy 
hereto annexed." 

It is true that in the recital preceding the ratification, this language 
is used : "Do in the name and behalf of the People of Virginia, 
declare and make known that the powers granted under the Consti- 
tution, being derived from the People of the United States, may be 
resumed by them whenever the same shall be perverted to their 
injury or oppression; and that every power not granted thereby, re- 
mains with them and at their will." 

Will it be contended that the People of Virginia meant anything 
more by this language than to re-affirm and reiterate, on entering into 
a new Government, the inherent right of Revolution in the people to 



33 



throw off a Government whose power shall become perverted to 
their injury and oppression ; which was the great idea on which the 
Declaration of Independence was based ? Can it be supposed for a 
moment that they meant thereby to qualify their ratification, and re- 
serve a constitutional right to secede, or withdraw, at any time they 
chose, without the consent of the People of the other States $ And is 
it to be supposed the people of New York, North Carolina, and 
Rhode Island would have ratified afterwards and unconditionally as 
they did) if they had so understood it ? The question oi conditional 
ratification came up in the Virginia Convention, and was rejected, as 
worse than no ratification at all. 

In July, 1788, while the question of ratification was pending before 
the people of New York, Alexander Hamilton wrote Mr. Madi- 
son, if a conditional ratification, with power peaceably to withdraw 
on a certain contingency, was admissable : in his reply, Mr. 
Madison used this language : . "The idea of reserving the right to 
withdraw was started at Richmond and considered as a conditional 
ratification, which was itself abandoned, as worse than rejection — 
the Constitution requires an adoption in toto and. forever." 

AVill it comport with the accustomed fairness and honor of the 
People of Virginia to now say to the People of New York, that they 
meant, when they used in the connection and for the purpose before 
stated, the language, "The People of the United States can resume 
the powers granted," they in fact meant that the People of Virginia 
reserved a. Constitutional right to resume and peaceably withdraw 
without, or against the consent of the others / This Constitutional Se- 
cession doctrine is a solvent that .will disintegrate any Government, 
though it should possess the cohesive qualities of a rock , and must 
lead the People to consequences they do not foresee. 

Should not a just and brave People, that have a just cause of com- 
plaint, place themselves in the present emergency upon firmer and 
more tenable ground ? Let the Proviso introduced by the Hon. 
George W. Summers in the Kanawha Convention, to submit any or- 
ganic change in the : Government which shall be proposed, to the 
final decision of the People, be faithfully observed by the State Con- 
vention. 

Cabell County, Western Virginia, January 14th, 1861. 



34 



The appearance of this letter determined, I think, in the minds of 
Secessionists, what my future status would be. Still, I labored to 
convince them that since we had kept the Bond, whilst others had 
broken it, both the Government and Flag belonged to us ; and that 
it was the height of folly to abandon either. 



A LETTER TO THE HO\ T . THURLOW WEED, OF THE 
ALBANY EVENING JOURNAL, JANUARY 15, 1861. 

GuYandotte, Cabell Co., Western' V a., Jan. 15, 1861. 
Thurlo# WiiD, Esq, " 

Dear Sirr—^l have just read to a gathering of anxious people, the 
late speech of MV. Seward, in" the United Slates Senate, on the 
state of the' country, and the Crittenden Resolutions. All had 
confidently expected ! that : Mr. Seward would at once consent to 
these Resolutions bein£ submitted to the vote of the People, who, 
we have no doubt, will approve them by the requisite majorities. 
We all saw the difficulty hi' the w'ay of the Representative men of 
the Republican party making the 'concession, justice and the integrity 
of the Union imperatively demand ; but we did not suppose for a 
moment, that any one would oppose the submission 1 of them to their 
Constitutional masters, the People ! The idea of mere servants 
withholding the subject, at a time like this, from their masters (be- 
cause they were too excited to be trusted) is extraordinary indeed — • 
it shows how far men reputed great, may fall below the*' present 
fearful exigency! 

At the same time I read a statement of the reasons and purpose 
stated by yourself for concessions on the part of the' Repuolickn^ 
party, viz : Not to conciliate South Carolina, nor other Disunionists^ 
but to conciliate and give strength and courage to the Union merrof 
the Border States. This, next to putting yourselves right, is unques-" 



tionably the true reason. We of the Border States are for the 
Union. We have witnessed the outrages upon the Flag and dignity 
ot the Federal Government, with as much pain and indignation as 
you. But what can we do, while from our stand point, the 
provocation on your side who desire the preservation of the 
Union, justifies, to a great extent at least, the conduct of 
the other side, who wish to destroy it. Many of us of Western 
Virginia have had considerable experience of the practical working 
of both Free and Slave Institutions, and are therefore qualified to 
judge of the relative merits, and demerits, of the two sections, better 
than those who have seen but one side. That great principle of 
human nature and municipal law which requires of every one who 
asks justice, first to do justice— asks the same of your party now. 
The Border States equally as anxious as yourselves to preserve the 
Union— ask it of your party mow, by submitting the Crittenden Res- 
olutions to the People, whose Decision we will abide. When this is 
done, you will find ten of the Slave States at least, as ready as your- 
selves, to maintain the integrity and dignity of the Union, and punish 
all arrogant aggressors— but not till theft. This is no more than the 
Union men of the Border States feel they have a right to ask of 
your party. 

What is done should be done quickly. I wrote to friends in 
Massachusetts six weeks ago, warning them of the coming danger, 
and the necessity for their at once putting themselves right on their 
Statute Book, in order to secure the cordial co-operation of the 
Border States. That State has moved too slowly. Of all the repre- 
sentative men of the Republican party, you, in our judgment, have 
come the nearest to a correct comprehension of the true necessity of 
the present crisis. 

4 



When it was known the Convention at Richmond had passed an 
Ordinance of Secession, though by fraud and violence, the 17th of 
April, 186 1, the Secessionists became intolerant towards Union men, 



m 

insisting it would be treason both to Virginia and the Southern Con- 
federacy (of which the Convention had then made her a part) 
to vote against its ratification the fourth Thursday of May then next. 
The Old Line Whigs and Douglass Democrats did not so regard 
it; but stood firm. Our delegates were put under an oath of secrecy 
that many observed after returning to their constituents, and refused 
to divulge anything that had transpired in the Convention. Albert 
G. Jenkins, a citizen of Cabell County, theretofore a member of 
Congress from that District, commenced raising a Regiment of 
Cavalry under the authority of Governor Letcher. The Secession- 
ists of Cabell County either joined his regiment, or formed them- 
selves into Home Guards under the pretence of preserving the 
peace. "The pomp and circumstance of glorious war" was every- 
where about us. A very large majority of the politicians an4 large 
property owners were Secessionists. . The Hon. H. J. Samuels, 
whose birth, education, and social relations, would naturally have 
allied him to that party, boldly opposed from the outset and stumped 
his County against its ratification. Similar proceedings took place 
in the other Counties in West ern Virginia, and when the 4ay of elec- 
tion came the Ordinance was rejected in this section by a very large 
majority. The arrogant assumption of the Secessionists had wound- 
ed the Virginia pride, and aroused a patriotism and heroism, hitherto 
dormant, in the humble, inexperienced masses. 

' Soon after the election the Richmond Government proclaimed, as 
matter of course, a ratification of the Ordinance by the people ; and 
General Wise was sent with an army to the Kanawha Valley, and 
Pegram and others with similar forces into other parts of Western 
Virginia — for the purpose of subjecting the Union men, or driving 
them from the State. The situation of the latter was "perilous in- 
deed, until Union forces appeared under the command of General 
McClellan, when* Wise and his army skedaddled to the other side 
of the Alleghany Mountains — most of their adherents and sympa- 
thizers followed. During their stay, Secessionists had it pretty 
much their own way, especially in the lower end of the State. Gen- 
eral Wise had his headquarters at Charleston, where Jenkins and 
similar bands joined, and from thence overrun the whole country- 
arresting and taking to Wise's camp incorrigible Unionists, and such 
as he failed to convert and subdue, he forwarded to Richmond. 
Judge Samuels left the State with his family in June, 1861. I left 
the 3d of July following, about one hour before a squad of Jenkins' 



37 



Cavalry came to arrest and take me to Wise's headquarters. Many 
other Unionists took the same course, and afterwards, in both civil 
and military capacity, faithfully served the Union cause. Judge 
Samuels served as Adjutant General during the Re-organized Gov- 
ernment, and when the New State was formed, was elected Judge of 
his native Circuit, which office he held with honor and satisfaction to 
all parties, until he resigned in 1868— after having organized and 
gotten in harmonious operation his Court in the six Counties com- 
prising his Circuit, and many of them had been the most intensely 
rebel, in the State. 

General John H. Witcher, recently a Representative in Congress 
from the Third District, and now United States Collector of Internal 
Revenue for the same District, was among the refugees from Cabell 
County to Ohio, where he obtained a lieutenant's Commission, 
authorizing him to organize a Company, which he soon did, mostly 
of his fellow refugees. He served through the war with signal dis- 
tinction for bravery and skill, had the honor to accompany General 
Grant when he received the surrender of Lee's army, and returned 
home a General. 

I mention these gentlemen as examples of the kind of stuff Union- 
ism in Cabell County was composed, when kindled and aroused 
as it was on that occasion. All its soldiers and citizens as a general 
thing proved equally brave and true. And what I have said of 
Unionism in Cabell County, I believe may be justly said of it in the 
other Counties comprising West Virginia, as the public records, both 
civil and military, show. 

It was soon after General McClellan's army had driven the 
rebels from Western Virginia, and upon learning the shameful defeat 
of the Union army at Bull Run — filling all loyal hearts with mortifi- 
cation and despondency — I felt impelled to address the following 
to the Cincinnati Commercial : — 



38 



Letter No. i. — July 24, 1861. 
SOME FACTS WHICH THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR 
HAS DEVELOPED. 

Messrs. Editors : — It is now clear that the rebel portion of the 
American people having long contemplated the present conflict, are 
much better organized, drilled and prepared to put forth their full 
strength, than the loyal portion. For the last five or six years at 
least, the former have been practicing the Military art, with express 
reference to the actual state of war which now exists, and selecting 
officers of all grades, as the development of their fitness warranted ; 
and finally crowned their preparatory work by robbing the Govern- 
ment of many of its most cherished officers, and the best and greater 
part of its arms and munitions of war — whilst the loyal portion, 
until the last three months — wholly unconscious of the gathering 
storm— were absorbed in their civil pursuits, and made no war prep- 
arations whatever. 

The war has also disclosed on the part of the enemy, a despera- 
tion and hatred with an unscrupulous choice of instruments and 
means, which have no parallel in modern warfare. Secret Poisons, 
Concealed Mines, Masked Batteries, Ambuscades, Guerrilla War- 
fare, Punic Faith, and Fiendish Atrocities, allying them with a 
Barbarous and Savage age— the Parthian and his poisoned arrows, 
the American savage with his stealthy strategy and malicious 
slaughter ! His Slave population hitherto' reckoned by us as an ele- 
ment of weakness in such an emergency, has so far proved one of 
strength rather. 

The Government has done wonders to maintain itself against this 
unnatural and parricidal blow. In the short space of three months 
it lias raised and equipped an army of about 300,000 true and loyal 
men, who at the call of their beloved country, volunteered to ex- 
change their various occupations, and comforts in civil life, for the 
untried and severe discipline of the camp. This change, so sudden 
and radical to American citizens, accustomed as they have always 
been to the enjoyment of large individuality and self-control, requires 
great sacrifice, and merits a corresponding consideration and reward. 
To make such sacrifice upon the altar of their country, and God, 
though deeply inspiring to noble minds, is not enough. They should 



39 



receive all the comforts and care the rules of war permit, in prompt 
pay, good food, clothing, medical attention, arms, and prudent and 
competent officers to lead them, and their families the consideration 
and fostering care of all. Nothing short of these will maintain, the 
morale of our Citizen Army, and render it invincible. 

With these, while it will cheerfully submit to the strict discipline 
and inexorable rules and hardships of war, it cannot fail to exhibit 
on every battle field, a self-reliance and invincibility, which a large 
individuality and self-control while in civil life, always give to the; 
Citizen Soldier. 

Unlike the hireling automatons which constitute the rank and file 
of Imperial armies, whose only aspiration is the approving smile of 
their Sovereign and Superiors, our rank and file are themselves the 
Sovereigns; and although submitting temporarily to the rigorous ex- 
actions of war, they sit in judgment daily upon the conduct of all 1 
Superiors, whether Civil or Military. 

Finally, it is now manifest that all the stern realities of a mighty 
war are upon us, and the sooner we come to a full and perfect reali-" 
zation of the fact, and that the preservation "of the best Govern- 
ment the sun ever shone on" is the stake, the better. Superior 
fitness for the place, Whether Civil or Military, can alone give claim 
at this time. All factitious and accidental distinctions must give : 
place to' true merit— to God's great men— whether found in the 
cabin,' or 1 rhanor-house. This the occasion and people demand. 



Letter No. 2. — July 27, j86i. 
SOME FACTS WHICH THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR 
HAS DEVELOPED. 
Messrs. Editors : — It would be unreasonable to expect that a 
great army like ours, which has been constituted so suddenly out of 
civilians unacquainted with the Military art, should not disclose in its 
first actual service many deficiencies. The great and essential fact 
to be looked for at this early stage, is courage and endurance in the 
rank and file. If these qualities are wanting in the common soldier, 
we might despair of perfecting such an army as the great exigency 
requires. 



40 



The war so far has demonstrated that our rank and file possess 
these qualities in a very extraordinary degree ; so great indeed, 
that when fired with the righteousness of our cause, and indignation 
towards ungrateful parricides, they can scarcely be controlled. In 
every battle they have shown themselves vastly superior , to the 
enemy in all the essential qualities of good soldiers. And hitherto 
the enemy has studiously avoided all equal and open combat, but 
has sought to overcome by such cruelties and strategy as the rules of 
civilized warfare condemn. Our hardy soldiers have rushed upon and 
silenced their nests of masked batteries, concealed like coiled rattle- 
snakes among the woods and bushes, with a determined energy and 
courage hitherto unexampled. These certainly have proved them- 
selves equal to the task of vindicating the government against all 
assailants. 

But the mighty energies of the rank and file must have military 
science, skill and genius to guide and direct. Of these we already 
have, or can soon find, an abundance among such a vast army of 
brave and hardy soldiers. There are plenty of good Generals and 
Subordinate Officers. To Lieutenant General Scott the people look 
as their great Captain with the patriotism and skill to plan and direct, 
while junior officers should faithfully and vigorously execute. The; 
people look to him as their Lieutenant General in this matter, and not 
to President or Congress ; and to the people he will be held respon- 
sible. They will never consent that their Lieutenant General shall 
again defer his own judgment in this matter, to any other power 
whatever, upon pain of dismissal. All tried Military Skill and genius 
are now imperatively demanded for counsel, or action, or both. The 
veterans Wool, Anderson, &c. are on every lip. They are needed 
to aid the Lieutenant General in selecting and qualifying competent 
Officers. There is plenty of material existing among the present rank 
and file, and citizens. We want only the master spirits to detect, and 
bring it out. The tried genius and skill of foreigners, whose fidelity 
to our cause is beyond question, can be employed at this juncture 
with great advantages. 

The circumstances under which our present army has been enlisted 
and organized, were not such as to secure the fittest men for Officers. 
It was thought by many that the war would be short, and only a 
pleasant pastime. 

Hence many, and we have legions, desirous only of a little notorie- 
ty, and whose only claims consisted of a little money, political infiu- 



41 



ence, or relationship to such as might have them, became the officers 
— to the great detriment of the army and country. But as the aspect 
of things have so much changed, and the stern realities of a great 
and bloody war are before them, and the searching ordeal recently 
established at Washington, these fancy officers will soon disappear, 
giving place to men that are made of "sterner stuff/' For no incom- 
petent man, unless a very fool, will wish to obtain a place in these 
times, when his unfitness will be made manifest to every soldier 
tinder hirn^ and a great and earnest people struggling to uphold their 
deafest earthly object-=-whose censure and rebuke no man can 
withstand; 

The face of public affairs, both political and military* has become 
too rough and tempestuous for any other than crafts of sound bottoms, 
deep draught, and steady keels, to venture out — all others are earn- 
estly requested to keep near the shore until the storm subsides* when 
they cart again enjoy their pastime. 



This,- the class last minted,- have been enjoying since" the war closed 
"with a vengeance,-" to the great depletion of the public Treasury, 
and disgrace of the Nation. 



Vf to* this tim'e I ha'c^ a very limited acquaintance with the People 
of the other sections of Western Virginia, having lived but about three 
years in that part of the State, and been absorbed in strictly private 
matters, coYrfined to Cabell and adjoining Counties. I scarcely had a 
personal acquaintance in either of the four Counties that comprise the 
Pan Handle — r a territory whose geographical and commercial relations 
closely alty it to' Pennsylvania— and still there were many violent 
Secessionists and Rebel Sympathizers, especially in the city of Wheel- 
ing and principal towns. What these could have expected if the pre- 
tended Confederacy had been established, with themselves as part of 
it, I never could conceive — almost surrounded, as they were, bj the 
F 



42 



great Free States of Pennsylvania and Ohio. The same was true in 
a degree at least, with all Secessionists who owned land or Slaves 
along the Ohio River, as their Slaves must vanish, and their bottom- 
farms become battle-fields, a line of blood — facts not likely to appreci- 
ate their pecuniary value. 

The Union men of these Pan Handle Counties, who were largely 
in the majority, early saw the predicament they would be placed in, if 
the Rebellion succeeded, and became aroused. What to do was the 
question — a most solemn and embarrassing one at that time — not as 
to where they were to look for aid, but the manner y or mode of pro- 
cedure. I am informed the first consultation was had at the Court 
House in Wellsburg, Brooke County, where a large number of the 
citizens of Brooke and Hancock Counties assembled to hear the 
Report of their Delegate to the Richmond Convention, Campbell 
Tarr, Esq., who had barely escaped with his life from the city of 
Richmond. The Hon. John S. Carlisle, a Delegate from Harrison 
County, who had a similar escape, accompanied Mr. Tarr to Wells- 
burg, and related,, in. his usually impressive manner,, his experience 
and views, corroborating the earnest and Mthful Repo r t of Mr. 
Tarr — both urging immediate preparation^ to iresist. The result 
was, that a Committee was appointed, consisting" of Messrs. Campbell 
Tarr, the late Adam Kjjbn,, Joseph Applegate, and David Flem- 
* ing, who were at the time among Brooke County's staunchest men, 
to proceed to Washington and procure arms and ammunition. This 
Committee . N at once proceeded to* Washington, calling on Governor 
Curtin at Harrisburg on their way r who expressed deep sympathy, 
and promised aid, if necessary. On, arriving at Washington, they 
called on the late Hon. E, M. Stanton, then, or soon after, United 
States Attorney General, who was a native of the neighboring town 
of Steubenville, and the warm personal friend of members of the 
Committee. He at once introduced them to Mr. Cameron, the 
Secretary of War, and requested that arms and ammunition be 
furnished. Upon Mr. Cameron's hesitating as to his legal right, Mr. 
Stanton replied with the emphasis of his great war nature so con- 
spicuous afterwards : "the law of 7iecessiiy gives the right, let them 
have the arms and ammunition; we will look for the book law after- 
wards," and tendered his own name as security for their proper use :: 
2,000 minnie rifles with suitable ammunition were furnished, and the: 
Committee returned with joyful, encouraged hearts, which they com- 
municated to the Unionists at home, and at once prepared themselves 



43 



to resist at all hazards. Soon after, it was reported that Rebel Cav- 
alry were on their way for the purpose of seizing these arms and 
ammunition, and robbing the Bank at that place, and the town of 
Wellsburg assumed the aspect of a military camp, bristling with 
bayonets in the hands of aroused and determined Unionists. 

The Rebel Cavalry however did not make their appearance. They 
would have met a warm reception if they had, for in the town and 
vicinity there were at that time many wh© afterwards served with 
signal distinction and honor in the Union army — among them Gen- 
eral L H. Duval. The arms and ammunition with the exception of 
eighty rifles and proper accompaniments,, were sent to Wheeling after- 
wards, for distribution. 

The 14th of May following, there was a spontaneous gathering of 
thousands at Wheeling, from the Western and other parts of the 
State, who disapproved the action of the Convention at Richmond, 
and disposed to resist. They regularly organized at Washington 
Hall, choosing a Chairman and Secretary. 1 never saw a record of 
their proceedings, if any was preserved. I can only speak there- 
fore, from what I recollect of seeing in the papers at the time, and 
statements of individuals who were present The proper mode to 
€-rgamze resistance was the great question. The situation was anom- 
alous under our system of Government at least, and without preced- 
ent, any further, than the Dorr Rebellion case in Rhode Island 
afforded. In ikat case the Federal authorities at Washington 
assumed to decide which of two opposing Governments in the same 
State was legitimate and entitled to Federal protection ; and the 
Supreme Court of the United States affirmed their right. The way 
to produce such a -State Government as the Federal authorities would 
recognize and protect, was the question. On this question J am 
informed there was^reat diversity of opinion. I am informed by 
Col. J. D. Nicholls that in a private consultation by the citizens of 
Brooke County, who attended the meeting, viz: the late Adam 
Kuhn, Joseph Gist, Campbell Tarr, Na thaniel Wells, himself 
and Daniel Polsley, late of Brooke, but then and now ot Mason 
County — he made the following suggestion: "That since Letcher 
and other State officers adhering to the pretended Secession Ordi- 
nance, had forfeited their powers, and the existing Constitution made 
no provision for such a case, the only way was to ask the People, the 
only source of power, to send delegates to a Convention with power 
to supply their places with loyal men." That the suggestion was 



44 



approved by the others present, and Mr. Polsley put it in shape and 
presented it to the meeting, and it was adopted with great unarrtmity ; 
and in pursuance thereof, delegates were sent to the Convention that 
met in Wheeling the nth of June, 1861. 

This meeting appointed a General State Committee, with power to 
appoint sub-committees in ail the Counties where practicable, and 
issued an able and stirring address, stating the facts and purpose, and 
urging the loyal people to send delegates to a Convention to be held 
at Wheeling, the 11th of June, 1861. Copies of this address with 
two boxes of the minnie rifles with ammunition, were afterwards sent 
to rnyself and Judge Samuels. We prevailed on Albert Laidley, 
Esq., the delegate elect to the Legislature of Virginia, for Cabell 
County, and as such entitled to a seat in the Wheeling Convention, 
to attend the same, and furnished him $50 — -myself advancing $25. 
He went, but declined to take the oath required, and returned under 
pretense of obtaining further instruction, and finally, after refunding 
the money he had not expended, left for Wise's camp at Charleston, 
and thence to the Richmond Legislature. It was reported, that 
while at Wheeling, he receive^ a letter from relatives in Charleston, 
advising to this course. The proceedings of this Convention have 
become matter of history, and need not be repeated here. Its work, 
with the work of the Mass Meeting at Wheeling, strikingly illustrates 
the capacity of the American people in great emergencies ; and 
forms a bright and instructive page in our J^atiqn's history, at that 
eventful period. 

There were ablegates there, representing the Union people throughout 
the State, where not prevented by the rebel forces. The following 
are their names : Arthur I. Boreman, J. H. Shuttlesworth, Nathan 
H. Taft, Joseph Gist, W. I. Boreman, Chapman J. Stewart, Daniel 
L). Johnson, James A. Foley, George McC. Porter, J. H. Atkinson, 
W. L. Crawfoad, John §. Carlisle, Solomon S. Fleming, Lot Bowen, 
B. F. Shuttlesworth, Daniel Frost, J. F. Scott, A. Flesher, P. M. Hale, 
J. A. J. Lightburn, Richard Fast, F f Smith, Francis H. Peirpoint, 
John S. liarnes, A. F. Ritchie, James O. Watson, Remembrance 
Swan, E. H. Caldwell, Thornas Morris, Lewis Wetzel, Charles B, 
Waggoner, D. Polsley, Leroy Krarner, Joseph Snider, R. L. Berk- 
shire, William Price, James Evans, D. B. Dorsey, Thomas H. Logan, 
Andrew Wilson, Daniel Lamb, J. W. Paxton, George Harrison, C. 
D. Hubbard, James W. Williamson, C. W. Smith, William H. 
Pouglas, Charles Hooten, W B. Zinn, W. B. Cra^ie, John Howard, 



H. Hagans, John J. Brown, S. Parsons, Samuel Crane, T. A. Rob- 
erts, L. E. Davidson, John S. Burdett, Samuel B. Todd, D. D. T. 
Farnsworth, William W. Brumfield, William H. Copley, James G. 
West, Sr., Reuben Martin, James P. Ferrell, Henry Newman, E. T. 
Graham, J. W. Moss, P. G. Van Winkle, H. S. Martin, James Titus 
Close, John Hawxhurst, Evan E, Mason, James Carskadon, O. D. 
Downey, George W. Broski, J. H. Trout, James J. Barrack, H. W. 
Crothers, John D. Nicholls, Campbell Tarr, John Love, Henry H. 
Withers, Henry C. Moore, Lewis Ruffner, Greenbury Slack, Dudley 
S. Montague, John Hall, William Radcliffe, David M. Myers, James 
Burley, Thomas Cather, Andrew Jackson, George Koonce, Black- 
wood Jackson, James A. Smith, Charles S. Lewis, and Ephraim 
B. Hall. 

The Convention organized by choosing the Hon. Arthur I. 
Boreman, a delegate from Wood County, President, and G. L. 
Cranmer, Esq., of Ohio County, Secretary. All took an oath to 
"support the Federal Constitution and the laws made in pursuance 
thereof, anything in the Constitution and laws of any State to the 
contrary notwithstanding." 

Among its first acts was to make with entire unanimity the Decla- 
ration of Rights printed in the West Virginia Code of 1869. From 
the first clause of which where is stated what was considered to be the 
legal and Constitutional ground for its proceedings, it would seem, 
the true legal principle was not apprehended. For they make the 
wrong and usurpation of the Richmond proceedings to consist in 
the fact, that the Legislature called the Richmond Convention with- 
out first taking the sense of the people, when neither the then exist- 
ing Constitution of 185-1, nor the practice theretofore in Virginia re- 
quired a previous submission of the question to the people. They 
had only voted on the ratification or rejection of the final work of 
prior similar Conventions, convened by the Legislature. The Rich- 
mond proceedings had been in conformity with the Constitution and 
practice, in form at least ; and Letcher, still ostensibly the rightful 
Governor, had in legal form proclaimed that the Richmond pro- 
ceedings had been ratified by a majority of the people of Virginia. 
/ This was probably true at the date of the Declaration, however it 
might have been at an earlier stage. So far then, there was no error 
in their form of procedure. It was the palpable conflict of their 
work with our system of National polity, including National and 
State Governments, that rendered its acts treasonable and void, and 



46 



the actors and all their adherents and supporters, abdicated and de- 
citizenized traitors — leaving the right to re-organize and officer the 
existing State Government anew, solely in the hands of the loyal 
people of Virginia — though a minority. The wrongs and usurpa- 
tions subsequently charged in the Declaration, with the effects 
ascribed, would necessarily follow such a conflict of the work of the 
Richmond Convention with the National polity. The subsequent 
proceedings of the Wheeling Convention were substantially in har- 
mony with this theory; still its grave error in., this respect, in stating 
the legal and Constitutional principle on which its proceedings rest- 
ed, gave rise, I think, to much misunderstanding and hesitancy as to 
the legitimacy of the Re-organization of the old, and formation of 
the New State, on the part of some of the Federal authorities, and 
the Press, afterwards. 

This Convention re-organized the Government by declaring all 
offices held by adherents to the Richmond proceedings, vacant, and 
filled them with loyal citizens ; convened at Wheeling a Legislature 
composed of like citizens, elected the May before, and ordering new 
elections where vacancies occurred — after modifying in one or two 
particulars, the then existing Constitution to meet the emergency ; 
prescribed an oath to support the Federal Constitution and the Re- 
organized Government of Virginia, notwithstanding the proceedings 
at Richmond, which oath all its members took, and all other officers 
were required to take ; and on the 25th of June adjourned to the 
6th of August, 1861, subject to be re-convened meantime by the 
Governor and Council, if deemed necessary. Hons. Francis H. 
Peirpoint was created Governor ; Daniel Polsley, Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor ; James S. Wheat, Attorney General ; Peter G. Van Winkle, 
Daniel Lamb, James W. Paxton, W. A. Harrison and William 
Lazear composed the Governor's Council. The other Executive 
Officers were subsequently filled by L. A. Hagans, Secretary of 
State ; Campbell Tarr, Treasurer ; Samuel Crane, Auditor of 
Public Accounts, and H. J. Samuels, Adjutant General. 

In the meantime the Re-organized Legislature had elected two 
United States Senators, the Hon. John S. Carlisle, hitherto one of 
the most zealous and efficient Unionists, and the Hon. Waitman T. 
Willey, who hitherto had been inactive, and his Unionism doubtful ; 
as he was reported to have made a disloyal speech on his way home 
from the Richmond Convention, of which he was a member — exhort- 
ing the people to repel any invasion of Virginia's soil by the Yankees. 



47 



The United States Senate admitted these members, and other de- 
partments at Washington recognized the legitimacy of the Re-or- 
ganized Government by acts equally unequivocal, as will appear in 
the sequel. 

The Convention re-convened the 6th of August, and continued 
in session until the 25th of the same month, when it adjourned, sub- 
ject to be re-convened by its President or the Governor, at any time 
prior to January 1, 1862. In all matters touching the Re-organiza- 
tion of the old State, there had been great unanimity ; but when the 
members returned from their respective constituencies the 6th of 
August, they were cognizant at least, of the firm determination of 
their respective constituents to have a new State — a subject that had 
been introduced by Mr. Farnsworth from Upshur County, prior to* 
the adjournment. This advance and determination on the past of 
their constituents troubled many of the delegates seriously, as it did 
those of a subsequent Convention, that framed the Constitution, 
Political aspirations, so common to Virginians, had become awaken- 
ed, and many had enjoyed the sweets of the humbler offices undes" 
the mother State. It was then confidently expected that the Uniom 
forces would soon crush out the Rebellion in Virginia,, and the Re- 
organized Government would be acquiesed in and accepted by their 
recent persecutors, throughout the State, with themselves at the head. 
Incomparably grander this would be than, to stand at the head of a. 
comparatively small State on the Western border of the gloiious- 
Old Dominion. ! Besides, it was calculated to wound Virginia State 
pride, and some shuddered at the thought of disturbing her territo- 
rial integrity. Visions and feelings like these had began to possess* 
the minds of the delegates when they returned. Moreover, the 
move to form a new State at that juncture of our National convul- 
sion and peril, and when the Re-organized Government had been> 
barely recognized, would naturally look premature and unwise. 
Notwithstanding there was great diversity of opinion, the Conven- 
tion passed an Ordinance by a vote of fifty to twenty-three, author- 
izing the erection of a new State, to include thirty-nine specified con- 
tiguous Counties, lying this side the Alleghanies, and other Counties 
contiguous on certain prescribed conditions, provided the people 
thereof should at an election to be held on the — October following, 
express their wish to have a new State. The Ordinance also pro- 
vided for an election of delegates at the same time, to meet at 
Wl.ee.rmg; the 26th of November following, and form a Constitution 



1 

( 



48 

in case, the vote should be for a new State. The following are the 
yeas and nays on this question : 

Yeas — Messrs. Berkshire, Brown, Burdett, Brumfield, Cather^ 
Crawford, Carlisle, Crane of Preston, Crane of Randolph, Caldwell* 
Copley, Davidson, Douglas, Downey, Davis, Evans, Ferrell, Farns- 
worth, Foley, Fast, Fleming, Hale, Hagans, Howard, Jackson,- Kra- 
mer, Lamb, Lewis, Love, Martin ot Welzel, Myers, Price, Paxton, 
Parsons, Ruffner, Smith of Marion, Slack, Smith of Pleasants, Scott, 
Smith of Upshur, Swan, Taft, Vance, Van Winkle, West, Withers,- 
Williamson, Wilson, Zinn. — 50. 

Nays — Messrs. Boreman (President), Atkinson, Borerftany Barnes,- 
Bowyer, Burley, Broski,- Crotbers, Close,, Carskadon,- Gist, Graham, 
Harrison, Hubbard, Hall of Marion, Hawxhurst,- Johnson, Koonce,- 
Mason, Montague, Nicholk, Polsley, Ritchie, Stewart,. Tarr, Trout, 
Wetzel, Watson. — 28. 

. Hon. John S. Carlisle, though he- ha*d becomte Unitetf States 
Senator, occupied his seat in the Convention during the adjourned 
Session, and zealously advocated, and voted for the New Sfate > 
while his colleague, Mr. Willey, 1 am informed, denounced the 
measure as one of tripple treasons-treason to the United States 
Government, Letcher's Government,- and the Re-organized Govern- 
ment of Virginia. 

About the time the Convention adjourned, viz : the 26th of August,- 
the Hon. A. F. Ritchie, a member from Marion County, who had 
voted in the negative, published the following opinion of United 
States Attorney Gen. Bates, which was widely copied and favorably 
commented g*i by the press ; 



OIPNION OF ATTORNEY GENERAL BATES. 

"Attorney General's Office, August 12, r86r. 
Hon. A. F. Ritchie, Virginia Convention, Wheeling : 

Sir. — Your letter of the 9th instant was received within the hour 
and as you ask an immediate answer, you of course, will not ex- 
pect me to go elaborately into the subject. 

I have thought a great deal upon the question of dividing the 



49 



State of Virginia into two States ; and since I came here, as a mem- 
ber of the Government, I have conversed with a good many and 
corresponded with some of the good men of Western Virginia in 
regard to that matter. In all this intercourse, my constant and 
earnest effort has been to impress upon the minds of those gentle- 
men the vast importance — not to say necessity — in this terrible crisis 
of our national affairs, to abstain from the introduction of any new 
elements of revolution, to avoid, as far as possible, all new and orig- 
inal theories of government ; but, on the contrary, in all the insur- 
gent commonwealths to adhere, as closely as circumstances will 
allow, to the bid constitutional standard of principle, and to the tra- 
ditional habits and thoughts of the people. And I still think that 
course is dictated by the plainest teachings of prudence. 

The formation of a new State out of Western Virginia is an orig- 
inal, independent act of revolution. I do not deny the power of 
revolution (I do not call it right, for it is never prescribed, it exists in 
force only, and has and can have no law but the will of the revolu- 
tionists. Any attempt to carry it out involves a plain breach of both 
the Constitutions — of Virginia and of the Nation. . And hence it is 
plain that you cannot take such a course without weakening, if not 
destroying your claims upon the sympathy and support of the Gen- 
eral Government, and without disconcerting the plan already adopted 
by both Virginia arid the General Government for the re-organization 
of the revolted States and the restoration of the integrity of the 
Union. 

That plan I understand to be this : When a State, by its perverted 
functionaries, has declared itself out of the Union, we avail ourselves 
of all the sound and loyal elements of the States — all who own alleg- 
iance to and claim protection of the Constitution — to form a State 
Government as nearly as may be up®n the former model, and claim- 
ing to be the very State which has been in part overthrown by the 
successful rebellion. In this way we establish a Constitutional nu- 
cleus, around which all the shattered elements of the Commonwealth 
may meet and combine, and thus restore the old State in its original 
integrity. 

This I verily thought was the plan adopted at Wheeling, and rec- 
ognized and acted upon by the General Government here. Your 
Convention annulled the revolutionary proceedings at Richmond, 
both in the Convention and the General Assembly, and your new 
Governor formally demanded of the President the fulfillment of the 
G 



50 



Constitutional guaranty in favor of Virginia — Virginia as known to 
our fathers. The President admitted the obligation, and promised 
his best efforts to fulfill it. And the Senate admits your Senators, 
not as representing a new and nameless State, now for the first time 
heard of in our history, but as representing "the good old Common- 
wealth." 

Must all this be undone, and a new and hazardous experiment be 
ventured upon, at the moment when dangers and difficulties are 
thickening around us ? I hope not— for the sake of the Nation and 
the State I hope not. I had repiced in the movement in Western 
Virginia, as a legal, Constitutional and safe refuge from revolution 
and anarchy ; as- at once an example and fit instrument for the res- 
toration of all the revolted- States. 

I have not time now to discuss the subject in it's various bearings. 
What I have written is written- with a running pen,- and will need 
your charitable criticism. 

If I had time: to* think, I could' give- persuasive reasons for declin- 
ing the attempt to* create a new State at this perilous time. At 
another time I might be willing to go fully into- the" question, but now 
I can say no more. 

Most respectfully, your obedient servant. 

Edward Bates." 

My reply through the Wheeling Intelligencer and New York 
Evening Post, to the' letter of Attorney General B^tes and' "Tripple 
Treason." 

[letter no. i. "J 

THE NEW STATE OF *KANAWHA, AND ATTORNEY 
GENERAL BATES' LETTER TO MR. RITCHIE. 
Gentlemen :— We have carefully read your remarks, as also the 
letter of the Attorney General to Mr. Ritchie, the 12th instant, 
touching the subject of the new State, and must say, that we differ 
with you, both as to the Constitutionality of the proposed measure, 
as well as its expediency at this time. We affirm that the measure- 

*Afterwarcls-- changed to West Virginia. 



51 



conforms in letter and spirit to both Federal and State Constitutions. 
The Attorney General admits in his letter, he had scarcely any time 
to investigate the subject, and that his views were only first im- 
pressions. 

The fourteenth section of the Bill of Rights adopted by the People 
of Virginia, the 12th of June, 1776, is as follows: "That the people 
have a right to uniform Government ; and therefore that no Govern- 
ment separate from, or independent of the Government of Virginia, 
ought to be erected or established within the limits thereof." 

This clause is all there is in the Bill of Rights, or Constitution of 
Virginia, directly bearing upou the subject ; and taken in its broad 
and literal sense would seem to prohibit the erection of any new 
State within its then existing boundaries, which at that time included 
all the North-western Territory, out of which the North-western 
States have since been erected, and Kentucky, which was erected 
into a State about 1792. Besides, by the adoption of the Federal Con- 
stitution by the People of Virginia, in Convention the 26th of June, 
1788,, they thereby erected the Federal Government to the extent of 
the powers granted, within and over its then existing territory. The 
People of Virginia by their ratification of the Federal Constitution, 
adopted with the rest of that instrument, the third Section of the 
seventh Article, which reads thus : "New States may be admitted 
by the Congress into this Union ; but no new State shall be formed 
or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any other 
State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of 
States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the States con- 
cerned, as well as of the Congress." Section second, Article sixth, 
of the Federal Constitution reads thus : "This Constitution and the 
laws of the United States, which shall be made in pursuance thereof, 
Treaties, &:c, shall be the Supreme Law of the Land" 

However exclusive and indivisable therefore, the good people of 
Virginia in 1776, intended to make their then existing Government 
and Territory, their adoption of the Federal Constitution in 17 88, as 
the Supreme Law of the Land, and the erection of new States after- 
ward in pursuance thereof, clearly modified and restricted the original 
clause in their Bill of Rights. Nor have they by any alteration of 
their State Constitution since increased the pre-requisites for forming 
or erecting a new State. 

To the Federal Constitution therefore, all loyal citizens must kok 



52 



for the requisite steps to be taken to form a new State out of an oTcT 
one ■ and this requires the consent of the State concerned, and of the 
Congress. 

The only remaining question touching the legitimacy of the measure 
then, is this — Is the Legislature of the re-organized Government at 
Wheeling the Constitutional Legislature of the State of Virginia ? If 
so, then its consent satisfies the letter and spirit of the Federal Con- 
stitution. 

re-organization of the Government has proceeded on the 
ground that all previous officers, adhering to the so-called Confederate 
States, have violated their oaths both to the Federal and State Gov-, 
ernments, committed Treason against both, and forfeited their powers, 
which they held only in trust for and which immediately reverted to 
the People, and their seats became vacant, agreeably to Sec. 2d, Vir- 
ginia Bill of Rights, namely, "That all power is vested in, and conse- 
quently derived from the People : That Magistrates are their Trustees 
and Servants, and at all times amenable to them." The disloyal por- 
tion of their constituents being a participes erimmis" and often equally 
guilty, cannot take advantage of such forfeiture, as it would be 
"taking advantage of their own wrong," which is inadmissable in the 
forum of conscience, or law. The loyal portion alone can take ad- 
vantage of the forfeiture and re-organize the Government ; and to 
these alone does the legitimate Government belong. 

The call for the Convention at Wheeling was addressed to all 
loyal citizens throughout the State, and it must be accounted their 
own fault or misfortune if they were not represented. The election 
of State Officers was equally open and general, and it was the like 
fault or misfortune if all loyal citizens were not represented in the 
Legislature. If the qualified voters of any County or Senatorial 
District neglect or refuse to send delegates to the Legislature, there 
is no power to compel them. A majority of those duly elected con- 
stitute a quorum for doing business, and the Federal Constitution 
requires no increased majority to give the consent for erecting a new 
State. 

The Legislature at Wheeling then was the Constitutional Legisla- 
ture of Virginia, and as such was fully competent to pass laws legally 
binding on the whole State. As competent to consent to the erec- 
tion of a new State, within the meaning of the Federal Constitution, 
as to elect Senators to the United States Senate, or to accept the 
State's quota of the surplus Revenue, and other acts which the Fed- 



eral Government has recognized and acted upon, in the most solemn 
and unequivocal manner. And in fact, the Federal Government 
would be estopped in a Court of Law or Equity, to impeach the 
Legislative action, which its highest law officer in the letter 
before mentioned states, would be a violation of both State and Federal 
Constitutions. 

The distinction taken by Mr. Pqlsley in his opposition to the 
measure, that although the Qovernment at Wheeling was the Gov- 
ernment de jure, it could not be considered so, de facto throughout 
the State, as the Eastern portion was not represented. There can 
be no ground for this distinction. For if it is the Government de jure 
as Mr. P. admits it to be, then it is all the Federal Constitution re- 
quires to give the necessary consent. Anc| if not the Government 
de facto, we should like to have Mr. Pqlsley fix the number of 
Counties in the East or other portions of the State, short of the 
whole, he would require to be represented, in order to raise it to 
that dignity. If the reply be a majority of the loyal voters of Vir- 
ginia, we answer, that majority we already have. 

Above all, when we consider the deep gulf of Revolution and 
Ruin the rebels have plunged the State into, regardless of our warn- 
ings and entreaties, as well as Constitutions and Laws, both human 
and divine, the great law of self-preservation would of itself justify 
almost any measure to rescue and save True Union, men. 

And whoever would in these times, interpose exception to the 
manner the seats of rebel officers are declared vacant, or others of a 
like technical character, would indict and punish the loyal passengers 
of a ship for culling; instead of untying, the lashings of the life 
boat, whilst the officers and crew, having turned pirates, and in mad 
revelry, were steering the ship to the certain destruction of all on 
board. 

We shall speak of the expediency of the measure in our next. 
Cabell County, W. Va., August 29, 186 1. 



54 



[LETTER NO. 2.] 

THE NEW STATE QF KANAWHA— THE EXPEDIENCY 
OF ITS EJECTION AT THIS TIME. 

Gentlemen : — We endeavored to show in a former number that 
there existed no constitutional objection to the erection of the new 
State now. We propose in this number to show the expediency and 
imperative necessity of doing it at once, or as soon as practicable. 

The radical and irreconcilable difference, which has fgr a long 
time existed between the people East and West of the Alleghanies, 
in their geographical position, Commercial necessities, social habits 
and relations, as well as National affinities, is generally known and 
admitted. This dividing line in their moral and social condition has 
become as fixed and permanent, as the Alleghanies themselves in the 
physical features of the State. And for a long time past upon issues, 
Moral, Religious and Political— -whilst the Ea.st has always gravitated 
towards the "peculiar institution" now represented by the so-called 
Southern Confederacy ; the West has as uniformly gravitated 
towards the Free States now represented by an unshaken adherence 
to the Federal Union. All the recent votes upon the revolutionary 
and rebellious measures, have only served to show with more clear- 
ness the depth and prominence of the antagonism, which exists be- 
tween the two sections of the State. 

The recent campaign of General Wise, who was selected to subdue 
and crush out tfye Union sentiment of Western Virginia, by the 
prestige of his name and persuasive eloquence, rather than by arms, 
has been forced to return without any success — showing thereby that 
the Union men have only bent, not broken by the shock — giving 
thereby fresh proof of their fidelity to the Union ; whilst the chagrin, 
mortification, and sectional hate of this redoubtable General marked 
his retreat with indiscriminate plunder and devastation. The East, 
which has always held the power, has manifested the strength of 
opposition on her part, by perpetuating a system of unjust and op- 
pressive Legislation towards the West in unequal taxation, more 
odious and more unjust, than that which separated the Colonies 
from Great Britain. The East have with great unanimity exerted 
every nerve to throw the entire State into the vortex of Secession, 
and to destroy the Government of Washington, and the glory and 



55 

prosperity of their Country; whilst the West have with equal 
unanimity and vigor labored to preserve both in their integrity and 
health. The present war, devastation, bankruptcy and ruin, which 
now spread over the entire East, belong exclusively to the madness 
and folly of its own people, aided by a few deluded sympathizers in 
the West. The great mass of the people in the West are guiltless, 
and have seasonably and at all times, warned and entreated their 
brethren of the East to desist. But it has been in vain. 

Would not the policy that shall longer bind the destinies of the 
young and loyal West to the self-immolated and disloyal East, equal 
in barbarity and horror that which binds the living Hindoo widow to 
the corpse of her deceased husband ? But it is useless to 
adduce further reasons to show that the West merits immediate and 
eternal separation from 1 the East. This fact must be manifest to all ; 
and if separation is to be longer deferred, it must be for causes 
disconnected with the real merits and demerits of the two sections ; 
and the only remaining inquiry is,* are there really any such- existing ? 
We think not.- 

It has been suggested' that the Re-orgaWized Government forms a 
nucleus around which all the scattered Union 1 fragments of the State 
can be' gathered 1 , and a reconstruction 1 effected , and that the erec- 
tion of a new State noiiv, would destroy this nucleus-, a? it would ab- 
sorb the Re-organized Government entirely. We do* not understand 
that such would be the legal result. The erection of the new Gov- 
ernment would only absorb or displace- the' present Re-organized 
Government to the extent of the new Stated Beyond that it would 
still exist in all its vigor; and the- present Governor and other officers 
having general jurisdiction- over the State,- would still continue to 
hold their powers outside- of the boundaries of the new State. It 
would' become necessary for them to* remove their residence beyond 
the new State, or to resign- their present seats and take the chance of 
an election- under the new Constitution-. In either case, the Re-or- 
ganized- Government would still remain- at all points outside the 
boundaries of the new State^ around which the scattered Union ele- 
ments of the old- State could' at any time rally. 

It has also been- objected-, that the Federal Government by giving 
its consent to the erection of the new State at this time, would thereby 
give its sanction to the monstrous Secession heresy, with which it is 
now battling. This is a mistake, arising from a supposed resem- 
blance between the two cases, when in fact — if we are right in our 



56 



Constitutional views of the matter, not the remotest resemblance 
exists. For whilst the erection of a new State will conform in all re- 
spects to the requirements of both State and Federal Constitutions, 
Secession is in direct contravention of both. And to pretend that 
the separation and erection into a new State, of a people that have 
always remained loyal, as well to their State as Federal Government, 
against all the traitorous and revolutionary assaults of the enemies 
to both — shall stand in no better plight than these very enemies — 
would be monstrous indeed ! The one is law, order, and tried loy- 
alty, cutting itself loose by Constitutional means from Revolution, 
Anarchy and Treason — whilst the other is an attempt by Unconstitu- 
tional and Revolutionary means, td drag us with themselves into 
certain ruin. 

It has also been objected that the present Congress could not 
consent to the erection and admission of the new State, in case the 
people should elect to retain the Slave feature, without violating the 
Chicago Platform ! If we recollect rightly that Platform only forbids 
the extension of Slavery or Slave Territory. The proposed measure 
will extend ?ieither. And the present Slave interest within the limits- 
of the proposed State— being only about one slave to thirty-three 
whites, can exert little, if any, influence in the choice of the two 
additional United States Senators, who Would increase, instead of 
diminishing, the Free States' power in the United States Senate. We 
do not see therefore as it would infringe the Chicago Platform. But 
suppose it should, what weight has that platform in times like the 
present ! Not much, we trust. 

There are true loyal men within the boundaries of the new State, 
who own Slaves and their property ought not to be sacrificed without 
adequate compensation. And while we feel that the present times 
require of the Government an exhibition of a mighty and terrible 
power, that shall make traitors quake, they also require in a corres- 
ponding degree, the exhibition of a lofty sense of justice. 

But what shall we lose by postponing the measure until the whole 
State shall be brought to acknowledge the Re-organized Govern- 
ment ? Why, as sooir as that is done, all the hostile Secession ele- 
ment of the East — tendered more hostile by defeat — will again meet 
us in the General Assembly, ready to co-operate with the Traitors 
that live amongst us, and together form a controlling majority. The 
Federal arm will then have been withdrawn. It will possess no Con- 
stitutional power to interfere turther. Think a Legislature so con- 



57 



stituted would consent to let the cis- Alleghany people go? Would 
they not rather hold us as Pharaoh did the Israelites, in order to 
harrass and oppress, as he did them ? They will tax us to replenish 
a treasury their own folly and madness have emptied ; to rebuild 
public structures their own traitorous hands have demolished; and to 
pay debts their parricidal war has created. They would require 
inflictions equal to the plagues of Egypt before they would let us 
go ; and Western Virginia would be forever doomed. 

But oil the' contrary, let the new State be created now ; let Con- 
gress Whett it convenes admit her to the immortal Sisterhood, and 
She Will at once be able to take good care of such traitors as reside 
among us, and spring forth into "newness of life with joy and freedom 
in her wings." 

Cabell County, W. Va., September 7, 1861. 



At the election Held on* trie Fourth Thursday of October following, 
the people of the several Counties riarrled in the Ordinance, accepted 
the proposition to efect theiiiselves into a new State, by a vote of 
18,408 in favor, to 78 f against ; and at the saute time elected dele- 
gates to form! a Constitution: The writer had the honor to be elect- 
ed a delegate fforh 1 Cabell Co'iint^. 

Of course this presumptuous move on the part of the "poor 
whites" the chivalry a few months before held under military rule, 
reached therrt through the "grape vine telegraph 1 ' in their Eldorado, 
and incensed them, together with all Rebeldorrt, very much. Various 
efforts were ntade td get back td their quotidanl homes, and put a 
stop to such audacious Treason ; but in general they found too 
many loyal bayonets in the Way. They have not, I think, forgiven 
the "poor whites" to th'is day, for so behaving, while they themselves 
were making so great sacrifice td regain the "lost rights" of all, in 
the land of "Dixie:" 

On the evening of the ioth of November, however, a regiment of 
Rebel Cavalry, under command of Cols. Clark.son and Jenkins, 
made a raid upon the town of Guyandotte, captured a small Union 
force stationed there under the command of Major Whaley, and re- 
treated next day at the approach of the Fifth Virginia Infantry, 
then stationed a't Ceredo, under the command of the brave Colonel 
ZkiclekV takin'g with' thcul to Richmond, not only the Union soldiers, 
M 1 



58 



but several citizens, whose only offence was their Union sentiments— 
among these several aged and most respected citizens, some of 
whom perished in their imprisonment, rather than acknowledge 
themselves in error. William Hinchman, Esq., of Cabell, and 
Daniel Witcher, of Wayne County, uncle of General John H. 
Witcher, were illustrious examples. Colonel Zeigler, justly in- 
censed at this cruel and unmilitary conduct, invited and aided by 
the local rebel element, burned the town on the nth of November — 
some thought, without sufficient cause. I never could think so, 
although about one thousand dollars worth of my property was de- 
stroyed, for which I have received no compensation. It taught the 
Rebel marauders, and their stay-at-home sympathizing and aiding 
friends a salutary lesson— not disregarded anywhere along the 
border, afterwards. 

The Convention for framing a Constitution, met at Wheeling, the 
26th of November, composed of the following gentlemen, who ap- 
peared on that day, or subsequently, and took their seats : 

Robert Irvine, R. W. Lauck, Stephen M. Hansley, Benjamin L. 
Stephenson, Thomas W. Harrison, John M.- Powell, Dudley S. Mon- 
tague, Richard L. Brooks, A. J. Wilson, G. F. Taylor, W. W. Bvum- 
rield, Josiah Simmons, Joseph Hubbs, William W. Warder, H. D. 
Chapman, John Hall, James Hervey, Robert Hagar, W. T. Willey, 
Henry Dering, P. G. Van Winkle, W. E. Stevenson, E. B. Hall, Hiram 
Haymond, J. W. Paxton, Daniel Lamb, G. Battelle, Joseph S. Pome- 
roy, Abraham D. Soper, James W. Parsons, Chapman J. Stewart, 
Granville Parker, Emmet J. O'Brien, Harmon Sinsel, John J. Brown, 
John A. Dille, E. S. Mahon, Benjamin F. Stewart, T. R. Carskadon, 
George Sheets, E. H. Caldwell, T. H. Trainer, Abijah Dolly, Jas. H. 
Brown, Lewis Ruffner, James Cassady, William Walker, Job Robin- 
son, Benjamin H. Smith, John R. McCutchen, J. P. Hoback, Richard 
M. Cooke, E. W. Ryan. ^ r ^<^ J ^^ 

The Hon. John Hall, delegate from Mason County, was chosen 
President, and the late Ellery R. Hall, Esq., of Tfbylor, was chosen 
Secretary. The main features of its work have now become History ; 
still the interior workings are but partially known. The task of 
forming a Constitution that should secure the approval of the three 
parties required — our own People, the Legislature of the Re-organiz- 
ed Government of Virginia, and Congress, was great and difficult 
indeed, at that period of National Convulsion ; especially, after the 



United States Attorney General, the highest law officer in the Gov- 
ernment, had pronounced the measure revolutionary, and "without 
warrant in either National or State Constitution." The task of the 
preceding Convention, though requiring eminent courage and patriot- 
ism, was simple and easy compared with this. It soon appeared that 
a considerable portion of the members, especially those that had enjoy- 
ed office under the old regime, wished the task off their hands. It was 
their heroic and determined constituences behind, that held them to 
the work. The brave and patriotic Van Winkle, early accused some 
of "hankering after the flesh pots of Egypt" — and his courage sub- 
sequently failed. 

A Special Committee was early appointed, for the purpose of de- 
termining suitable boundaries for the New State. This Committee 
reported, and recommended a change of boundaries, so as to include 
the entire Shenandoah Valley to the top of the Blue Ridge, The 
people of that Valley were as intensely pro-slavery and rebellious, as 
any section of the State ; and of course, if the Report had been 
adopted, must have ended all hope of a New State. The report 
was warmly discussed for about a week. Among others, the writer 
submitted the following remarks ; 



TOUCHING THE LOWERS OF THE CON V ENTI ON—HAS 
THIS CONVENTION THE POWER TO CHANGE THE 
BOUNDARIES ? 

It is a familiar principle of Law and Equity that when a thing is 
to be divided, or existing sub-divisions changed, all parties interested 
must be represented. 

If three persons are the joint owners of a field, all must be repre- 
sented and assent in order to make a valid division. 

If after the division is made and the bounds fixed, one should at 
tempt to change these bounds, without the consent of the other two, 
it would be an act which Human and Divine law condemn. 

If in making the Division, however, two of the joint owners should 
undertake to impose on the portion allotted to the third, a particular 
name, as "White Acre," or "Black Acre," or to prescribe the manner he 



GO 



should cultivate his portion, these would be restrictions inconsistent 
with his sole ownership and absolute right to use, and therefore not 
binding. Such, in principle, I take to be the case now before the 
Convention. 

In the State of Virginia, the subject to be divided, all the loyal 
People of the State are the parties interested ; and these People eith- 
er through a Convention or Legislature, which constitutionally repre- 
sents them all, can alone make a division so far as the State is con- 
cerned. 

The Convention that convened at Wheeling the nth of June last 
constitutionally represented the loyal People of the whale State. By 
the Treason of her officers, Letcher and Company abdicated, and 
their powers became forfeited and returned to the People, the Source 
of all power. As the disloyal portion were confederate with the 
Traitor officers, participes criminis, and equally guilty, they could not 
take advantage of the forfeiture, as it would be "taking advantage of 
their own wrong." 

The loyal People of the State could alone take advantage of the 
forfeiture, and re-organize the Government. The call for the Con- 
vention was general to all loyal citizens throughout the State, and it 
was their fault or misfortune if all such were not represented. If a 
County or Senatorial District refuse or neglect to send a Delegate or 
Senator to the General Assembly, there is no power to compel them 
to do it. Those elected and qualifying constitute a Constitutional 
Legislature, whose Acts bind all. 

Such were the Convention and Legislature which met last Summer 
at Wheeling, and the Legislature now in session. 

Now such a Convention or Legislature with consent of Congress 
can make any division they choose ; and so far as the State is concern- 
ed are like the three men that jointly owned the field. 

That Convention did authorize a division including the thirty-nine 
Counties absolutely, fixing the boundaries ; and by the third Section 
of the Ordinance authorized other Counties to come in on certain 
conditions, which conditions have not been complied with except by 
the Counties of Hardy and Hampshire, whose Delegates have been 
admitted to this Convention. The same Section also authorized the 
thirty-nine Counties and such others as should comply with the con- 
ditions prescribed, to choose Delegates to meet in Convention and 
form "a Constitution for the Government of the proposed new State" ; 
which Convention representing the forty-one Counties, we are. 



Now can this Convention of ours, which represents but a part of 
the loyal People, move or alter the boundaries which the whole loyal 
People, the owners of the thing to be divided, have fixed ? It is in 
principle, the third man altering the bounds which the three have 
fixed, without the consent of the other two. The peculiar structure of 
the new State and its name, this Convention has full control over, for 
these belong exclusively to our constituents ; and in these the other 
loyal People of the State have no interest whatever; but in the 
boundaries they have a direct and most vital interest. Another Con- 
vention representing the whole loyal People of the State, or the pres- 
ent Legislature, which also represents all, can change the boundaries. 

The gentleman from Wood inquired yesterday, if force had made it 
impossible for certain Counties to comply with the conditions, whether 
that fact would not waive the conditions, an4 authorize this Conven- 
tion to admit the proposed additional Counties. I answer emphati- 
cally, No. It would not enlarge the powers of the present Conven- 
tion. The Convention of last Summer that imposed these conditions 
and which represented the whole loyal People of Virginia, or some 
other body, possessing equally extensive powers, can waive the con- 
ditions and admit them. 

It is competent and proper, I submit, for this Convention to agree 
on what we think our constituents ne^d, and recommend the same \o 
the proper power. The present Legislature or a Convention of the 
whole loyal People of Virginia has that power. What this Convention 
does, in this regard, can only be recommendatory. 

Some gentlemen have suggested that as the whole work of re-organ- 
izing the old, and forming the new State, is Revolutionary, this Con- 
vention can do what it pleases, even to the moving of a neighbor's 
landmarks. 

I deny the premises in toto. The re-organization of the old and 
our proceedings thus far in forming the new State, are in all respects 
Constitutional and Legitimate. When the old Government by the 
Treason of its officers abdicated, its powers, being incapable of anni- 
hilation, returned to the People, the source from which such powers 
were derived ; and it became the right and duty of the loyal portion 
thereof to re-organize and re-officer, with loyal men, the Govern- 
ment. It is Letcher and Company's train, locomotive, tender, passen- 
ger cars and all, that lie piled in ruins down the bank — not ours. 
Ours is on the Constitutional track, with Steam up, with Engineers, 



Firemen., Conductors, and Brakemen, all equal to the emergency and 
at their posts^ and we must go through. 

The fronds succeeded in limiting the boundary to the summit of 
the AUeghanies, until they struck the influence of the Baltimore & 
Ohio Railroad, which* for the purpose of getting its entire line out of 
Old Virginia, created what is known as the "Eastern Pan Handle." 

I also had the honor to submit to the Convention some remarks on 
other subjects, among them the following; 



CAN TREASON BE COMMITTED AGAINST A STATE UN- 
DER OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT ? 

To determine this question we should look to the origin of our 
System, the Source of power, and distribution which the People have 
made of that power. 

Previous to the separation of the thirteen Colonies from Great 
Britain by the establishment of their Independence, these Colonies 
owed allegiance to the British Crown. By that Independence this 
allegiance was dissolved, and the Sovereign Power became vested in 
the people of the several Colonies. Each of these Colonies formed 
for itself a State Government — Virginia hers in 1776; and the other 
Colonies soon after. These thirteen Peoples became then thirteen 
Independent Governments. In 1777 and 1778, during the war, the 
Legislatures of these thirteen Independent State Governments entered 
into a league or compact called "Articles of Confederation." The 
powers of this Confederation were vested in a Congress solely, com- 
posed of Delegates elected by the Legislatures of the States. There 
was no Executive, nor Judicial Departments then. No President, 
Federal Courts, nor Marshals then. The Congress could enact laws, 
but had no co-ordinate branches to interpret or carry its laws into 
execution. It could only recommend to the thirteen State Govern- 
ments to carry its laws into effect. The State Governments, as a 
general thing, did this, while pressed by the arms of Great Britain. 
But when this outside pressure was removed by the peace of 1783, 
they ceased to comply with the requests of this Congress. No money 
could be raised to pay the debt created by the war, or to pay current 



63 



expenses. Its laws were set at defiance. Rivalries and disputes 
sprung up between the several States, in relation to" Commerce, im- 
posts and the like, and the whole fruits of the great struggle' were 
threatened with immediate ruin. 

Amid these stern necessities it was, in 1787, the delegates, chosen* 
generally, I think, by the Legislatures of tlie several States, with 
General Washington at their head-— --met in Philadelphia, and drafted 
our Federal Constitution. It begins : "We, the People of the United 
States, in order to form a more perfect Union,"" &c. 

Article Six reads thus : "This Constitution and the laws of the 
Uni ted States which shall be made m pursuance" thereof; and all treaties 
made, or that shall be made under the authority of the United States, 
shall be the Supreme Law of the Land ; and the Judges in every 
State shall be bound thereby,- anything in the Constitution or Laws 
of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." 

Article Nine (Amendments) thus : "The" enumeration in the Con- 
stitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny, or dispar- 
age others retained by the people." 

Article Ten (Amendments) thus : "The" powers not delegated to 
the United States by the Constitution, not prohibited by it to the 
States, are reserved to the States respectively, of to the people." 

Article Four, Section Three, provides : "That new States may be 
admitted by Congress into the Union," &c. 

Section Four : "The United' States shall guarantee to every State 
in this Union, a Republican form of Government,- and shall protect 
each of them against invasion, and on application of the Legislature, 
or of the Executive, (when the Legislature cannot be convened) 
against domestic violence." 

This Constitution was submitted to the people,- (convened through 
their delegates in each State) who ratified the same,- and thereby be- 
came consolidated into one people and Government,- to the extent of 
the powers granted in the Constitution, but no farther. The pow- 
ers reserved to the States respectively, or people, remained in the 
respective States,- and in the people, the same as before the adoption 
of the United States Constitution. Before the adoption of the latter, 
each State was Sovereign and Supreme, and the adoption of that 
instrument by the people, only abridged the State Sovereignty to the 
extent of the Sovereignty so transferred to the Federal Govern- 
ment by the Federal Constitution. 



Now that residuum of Sovereignty which remained in the States, 
after the people had resumed sufficient with which to construct the 
Federal Government, is the Sovereign power to which the people 
owe an allegiance, separate and distinct from their allegiance to 
the Federal Government ; and against this residuum of State 1 Sov- 
ereignty, Treason may be committed. The State is as Supreme 
outside the bounds of the Federal powers as it ever was. As seen! 
through the Federal Government, it is true, the peo'ple of the thirty-four 
States, are but one people, making one great Nation, and the powers 
conferred on the Federal Government were with this view. It has 
the exclusive management of our foreign relations, with the outside 
world, and with such internal interests as are general; arid require 
uniformity : as the Postal department, amd Commerce. Co-e'xteusive 
with the Constitution in the exercise of its delegated powers, it is 
Supreme • and if the due exercise of these powers is obstructed 
anywhere, in any State, it has the unquestionable right to m'arch its 
armies and remove the obstru6tion ; and this is no inva'sion of the 
rights of the States. It is an exercise of its Constitutional rights 
only. But if it transcends the powers granted, it becomes invasion 
and aggression upon the rights reserved to the States and people. 

To the State attcf people are reserved all powers of a local nature, 
to be exercised as the people and peculiar wants of each State may 
require. Here, the rights of persons and of property are mainly 
defined, enforced, and protected, with the modes of acquiring' and 
disposing of property. In these local matters the State is Sovereign 
and Supreme. If a murder should be committed in the County of 
Ohio to-day, the Federal Government would have no jurisdiction in 
the case, no' more than the Queen's Bench of England. The indict- 
ment would conclude against the peace and dignity of the State of 
Virginia. If convicted and sentenced to be executed, and ten, 
twenty or a hundred men, citizens owing allegiance to the State of 
Virginia — should organize and arm themselves for the purpose of 
rescuing the culprit, it would be levying war against the lawful au- 
thority of the State, and treason against the same. Resistance to 
lawful authority is rebellion. But it requires organized and armed 
resistance to lawful authority, or an organizing and arming with intent 
to such resistance, to constitute levying of war within the meaning 
of the Constitution. 'Tis not necessary the armed conspirators 
should contemplate the destruction of the entire Government. For 
their example if carried out, would soon destroy it by piece-meal. 



65 



If upon application from the proper State authority the 
Federal Government should interpose to assist the State 
Government, and should meet with this organized and armed 
resistance, it would then become treason against both Governments ; 
as it would be an organized and armed resistance to the lawful au- 
thority of both. Whether in such case that against the State would 
become merged in that against the United States, is not material here. 

We are citizens of, and owing allegiance to two Governments, the 
Federal arid State. Each equally original and springing from, and 
resting upon, the people. Each is self-executing and supreme within 
the scope of powers granted. The constituency of the Federal Gov- 
ernment are the citizens of the thirty-four. States. The constituency 
of the State Government are the citizens of the State. The Federal 
Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land ; and wherever there 
is a conflict the State must yield to the Federal power. To deckle 
the questions of conflict that may arise is the province of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, which represents all the citizens of the 
United States; arid this is the key-stone of the arch, without which 
the whole must sink into anarchy. It is a system that seems to have 
been generated arid produced by the circumstances that surrounded 
and influenced the great Founders, who were fit instruments in a 
Divine hand. 



I was surprised at the widely different opinions entertained by 
members in relation to the structure of our National polity. The 
appalling results at the time of extreme State Rights doctrine had 
impelled some of the ablest minds in the Convention to an opposite 
extreme : — absorption of all State Sovereignty in the National. 
Hence, I think, my remarks were of use then, though they may ap- 
pear trite truisms now- Several of the ablest members strenuously 
contended that a State Government could possess no sovereign pow- 
er, against which treason could be committed. 



I 



66 



ON THE SIZE OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. AND 
MODE OF APPORTIONING THEM AMONG THE SEV- 
ERAL COUNTIES AND DELEGATE DISTRICTS. 

{«* 

The proposition I understand is, to substitute fifty^sk Delegates in 
place of forty-six, as reported by the Committee the 17th of Decem- 
ber. My purpose has been to adhere to forty-six, as the number 
giving in the aggregate the smallest amount of unrepresented frac- 
tions — and these most equally and equitably distributed. 

My vote on Saturday, in favor of the amendment to the substitute 
proposed by the gentleman from Doddridge, to give the additional 
number if any increase should be made, to the small, instead of the 
large Counties, as being the most just. If the great principle we 
have adopted, with entire" unanimity, was to be departed from, my 
sympathy would give to the weak rather than to the strong — not that 
I for a moment intended to be understood as favoring any departure 
at all. The conduct of gentlemen since, on both sides, had inspired 
a hope that "log rolling" was' to be abandoned, and principle ad- 
hered to — hence,- yesterday, upon a motion for reconsideration, I 
voted to reject that amendment, which now brings us to the main 
question, the substitute proposed. 

Now, what will be the result if eight delegates be added, and dis- 
tributed according to our adopted principle and method ? Will the 
proposed increase secure a more desirable and efficient legislative 
body ? Will it diminish the aggregate of unrepresented fractions ? 
Will it more equally and equitably compensate for the unrepresented 
fractions? If all, or either of these results are to be attained, then 
adherence to principle will warrant it. But if neither is to be attain- 
ed by the change, then an adherence to principle as clearly 
forbids it. 

All agree that forty-six will make a House sufficiently large, and 
that fifty-four, with a corresponding representation from the seven 
Counties that may elect to become part of the new State, will make 
the House too large. There is to be no improvement, then, in the 
size of the House to warrant the change. 

Will it diminish the aggregate of unrepresented fractions ? Fifty- 
four gives a ratio or divisor of 5,637, instead of 6,618, and produces 
thirty-eight, instead of twenty-five delegates, as by the Report ; and 



67 



an aggregate of fractions of 90,226, while the Report gives 138,083. 
But the material question is, which divisor or ratio and distribution 
according to the principle which we have adopted, will leave the 
smallest aggregate of unrepresented fractions. The 138,083 fractions 
by the Report, includes the sixteen fractions to which stars are an- 
nexed, also the five having a cross attached, making twenty-one of 
the thirty-seven Counties and Districts, to which Delegates are as- 
signed ; and these twenty-one Districts and Counties are represented 
by an excess equalling the unrepresettted fractions of the remaining 
sixteen Counties and Delegate Districts, which have neither stars nor 
crosses attached, and reduces the aggregate of unrepresented frac- 
tions in these last named sixteen Counties and Districts to 20,649. 
If we give an additional Delegate to Greenbrier and Monroe, as we 
should do, as they have the largest unrepresented fractions — it reduces 
the unrepresented tractions to 13,852— that being all the persons in 
all the Counties that will be unrepresented according to the Report 
of the Committee. 

Now, how will it be with the 90,226 aggregate fractions pro- 
duced by the fifty-four, as a ratio ? it will be seen that only eight of 
the Counties and Districts fall below the divisor or ratio, namely, 
Boone, Brooke, Doddridge, Hancock, Logan, Pocahontas, Roane and 
Wirt, each of which has a Delegate assigned to it, though their ag- 
gregate population is only 37,335, and consequently represented by 
an excess of 7,761. Substract this 37,335 from the 90,226, the 
aforesaid aggregate fractions of the fifty-four ratio, and there re- 
mains 52,891 unrepresented fractions in the twenty-nine Districts 
and Counties, which are entitled to, and allotted one or more dele- 
gates. There are eight delegates to be allotted, and they must be 
distributed as follows: First — to Ohio, for the substitute's fraction of 
5,025, (but by the Report 2,342,) one — making to that County four 
delegates. Second- — to Greenbrier, for the substitute's fraction of 
4,862 (by Report 3,881) one — making two to that County. Tftird — 
to Monroe, for the substitute's fraction of 3,887 (by Report 2,908) 
one — making two to that County. Fourth — to Mason, for the substi- 
tute's fraction of 3,115 (by Report 2,134) one — making two to that 
County. Fifth— -to Barbour, for the substitute's fraction of 3,092 (by 
Report 2,111) one — making two to that County. Sixth — to Jackson, 
for the substitute's fraction of 2,583 (by Report 1,622) one — making 
two to that County. Seventh — to Kanawha, for the substitute's frac- 
tion of 2,513 (by Report 551) one — making three delegates for that 



68 . . 

County. Eighth — to the District of Wood and Pleasants, for sub- 
stitute's fraction of 2,443 (by Report 481) one — making three to that 
District. 

This will be the distribution, the principle and method we have 
adopted, will require, and the aggregate fractions to which they will 
be allotted, amount to 27,722 — 17,294 less than the full number, 
namely 45,096 — and 27,722 substracted from the 52,991 of remain- 
ing fractions as before stated, leaves 25,289 unrepresented fractions, 
as against 13,852 by the Report. It is clear, then, that the change 
proposed, will largely increase the aggregate of unrepresented 
fractions. 

Now the next question is, who is to lose by this ? It is said that 
Cabell County, which I have the honor to represent, will not, for she 
is entitled to one delegate in either case. I answer, that by the Re- 
port, Cabell will enjoy one forty-sixth part of the power of the House 
of Delegates ; but by the proposed substitute she will have but a fifty- 
fourth part of that power. And wherever there is a gain by an ex- 
cess of representation, there must be somewhere else, a correspond- 
ing loss in unrepresented fractions. By the substitute the unrepre- 
sented fraction of Cabell County is increased from 1,073 to . 2 ,>°J>4 — 
loss, 981 Lewis County, from 1,118 to 2,099; Taylor County, from 
682 to 1,663 j Upshur, from 446 to 1,427 ; Wetzel, from 93 to 1,054; 
Wayne, changed from 14' minus to 967 excess ; Tyler, from 130 
minus, to 841 excess; Ritchie, from 195 to 1,172; Putnam, from 
910 minus, to 71 excess; Preston, from 53 minus to 1,909 excess; 
Monongahela, from 329 minus to 1,732 excess; Mercer, from 190 
minus to 791 excess ; Marshall, from 580 minus, to 1,662 excess ; 
Marion, from 180 minus to 1,382 excess ; Harrison, from 51 minus 
to 1,913 excess; First Delegate District, Calhoun and Gilmer, from 
441 minus, to 544 excess ; Second District, Clay and Braxton, from 
28, to 1009 excess ; Fourth District, McDowell, Raleigh and Wyom- 
ing, from 1005, to 1,996 ; Fifth District, Tucker aud Randolph, from 
429 minus, to 522 excess, Sixth District, Webster and Nicholas, 
from 596 minus, to 384 excess. 

Such is to be the result of the change proposed. And have the 
gentlemen, whose Counties, nine in number, are to be the exclusive 
gainers, the effrontery to ask those, representing the remaining thirty- 
five, which are to sustain such loss to vote for the substitute. For 
their own sakes, and the character of this body, I trust not. Can 
the gentlemen from Kanawha, whose County has 13,787 population, 



69 



and onlv 6,096 more than Cabell, expect me to vote for a proposition, 
that gives their County three delegates, while Cabell has but one / 
I trust not. 

Gentlemen seem to forget the high purpose, for which we were 
sent here. We have been sent here to frame a Constitution, contain- 
ing general and just principles, which are to govern Legislatures, and 
the other co-ordinate branches of the Government in future time-— 
not to try our hands at that contemptible, petty "log rolling," which 
has disgraced and ruined the mother State ! The fifth fundamental 
principle which we have unanimously adopted, reads thus : "Every 
citizen of the State shall be entitled to equal Representation in the 
Government, and in all apportionments of Representation, equality 
of numbers in those entitled thereto, shall be preserved as far as 
possible." Nor have we been content to enunciate this great princi- 
ple of equal Representation as a guide to future Legislatures, and 
leave it to their discretion to apply, as successive decades shall roll 
round with all the. changes that will occur, but in the sixth section of 
the Legislative Report, which we have unanimously adopted, we 
have prescribed an exact method, with minute details, by which all 
future Legislatures shall preserve this equality of Representation. 
Thus we have preached and theorized for others to practice by. 
But it devolves upon us now to put our preaching and theory into 
practice ; and suppose in our practice, we adopt the substitute pro- 
posed, with all its flagrant violations of these principles, and gross 
injustice — what will those who come after think of us ? May they 
not reasonably conclude that the madness, which seems to rule the 
minds of men at the present day, extended alike to Constitution 
makers, and Constitution breakers / And what will our present con- 
stituents, to whose decisions we have to submit our important work 
say ? Are not they the descendants of men, who "pledged their 
lives, fortunes, and sacred honor," for the maintenance of just Prin- 
ciples ? and are not they themselves at this very hour hazarding 
everything for upholding the great principles so established by the 
Fathers, and many baring their bosoms to the storms of a most re- 
lentless Civil War ? Present to them for their approval such mental, 
nay moral apostacy, as the adoption of the substitute contemplates, 
and they will reject it with scorn and indignation. 

Let us be rational and honest, and reject this substitute, and adopt 
one that shall give to the Counties of Greenbrier and Monroe con- 
jointly, they having the largest unrepresented fractions, and having 



70 



never been represented in this Convention, an additional member, 
making forty-seven in all, unless the seven conditional Counties, or 
some of them, elect to come in. 



The substitute was rejected, and the Report of the Committee 
modified in the manner proposed, was adopted. [See Journal of 
Convention, 2d and 3d Reports of the Committee on the Legislative 
Department.] 



PN THE QUESTION OF ALLOWING THE LEGISLATURE 
TO GIVE THE STATE'S AID TO WORKS OF INTERNAL 
IMPROVEMENTS. 

This is an important question. Is it better for the Convention to 
prohibit for all coming time, the aid of the State to Works of Inter- 
nal Improvements, however general they may be in their beneficial 
results to the State, or permit the Legislature, under proper restric- 
tions, to extend its aid from time to time to such Works as its 
wisdom shall deem to be of general State concern. As the National 
Government confines its aid to Works of Nati onal concern only, so 
a State ought to extend its aid to such works only as concern the 
whole §tate, and where individual capital and enterprise are inade- 
quate. When any State descends from matters that are of general 
State concern, to works that are merely private and local in their na- 
ture, it becomes the sport and victim of individual and local compe- 
tition, to "log rolling," and indiscriminate plunder. This has been 
the peculiar misfortune of Virginia. 

Washington, and his cotemporaries, stood upon high State policy, 
when in 1790 they projected the great work of connecting the James 
with the Ohio river. But they passed away, and their successors 
went to "log rolling," and have continued it until a debt of $35,000,- 
000 to $40,000,000 has been created, and instead of any system of 
Public Works, only partial disconnected lines are scattered over the 
Eastern portion — "beginning," as Governor Wise said in 1854, 
"everywhere, and ending nowhere." 



71 



De Witt Clinton, in about 1817, projected the great work of the 
Erie Canal, connecting the Hudson River with the great Lakes, and 
the inexhaustible West — which he adhered to amidst persecution and 
obliquy, until the great work was completed in 1825, and his name 
made immortal. 

All of Western New York was then a wilderness, but now the 
richest, and most populous section of the country, with its fertile 
fields and flourishing towns and cities. The State then numbering 
about 1,200,000, which in i860 numbered nearly 4,000,000. The city 
of New York, then numbering about 250,000, in i860, numbered ris- 
ing one million — more white population than the entire State of Vir- 
ginia. The States of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, 
Indiana and Illinois, followed her example — with less marked, but 
extraordinary success. Most of their canals, except the Erie, have 
been superseded by Railroads ; but those States owe mainly their 
present greatness to their early perfected systems of Internal Im- 
provements. 

Now, where would these great States have been if their Constitu- 
tions had contained the prohibitory clause now proposed to be inserted 
in ours ? They would still have been, to a great extent, like Western 
Virginia — a wilderness ! 

Western Virginia has received but little benefit from the "log roll- 
ing" business of the State. She has helped the East to roll their logs, 
but has received little assistance in rolling her own. The meagre 
improvements of the Kanawha, Coal, a.n& Guyandotte rivers, and 
the half million expended on the west end of the Covington and 
Ohio Railroad— now in a state of decay — with here and there a mud 
turnpike, are all she can show for the forty million of debt. 

Western Virginia is rich beyond measure, in variety and fertility of 
soil, boundless forests of valuable timber, and inexhaustible mineral 
Wealth. But these are to be developed, and brought into use. Indi- 
vidual capital, aided by the State, and the sinews of free and earnest 
men can alone accomplish it. 

I do not believe in the policy of the State becoming a stockholder 
in any Company, but in her endorsing or guaranteeing Company's 
bonds where absolutely necessary, and where it shall be demonstrated 
to be safe to do so, taking a lien on the whole work for security. 
There need be no risk whatever ; and we should commit this power 
to the wisdom and sound discretion of future Legislatures. 



12 



Our new State, it is true, -will require no long lines of Improve- 
ments to connect her with markets. The Ohio River, and Baltimore 
& Ohio Railroad open to her the best markets of the country ; and 
the same liberal and enterprising Company stands ready to do more.' . 
It is her beautiful rivers that require to be improved; her almost, 
ainccessible interior, filled with every variety of wealth, now locked up 
and valueless, must be furnished with suitable outlets, which* will im- 
part to the Agricultural and every other great interest, ,a' quickening 
spirit. It has not the individual capital and enterprise to do it. The 
State can aid without incurring any risk, in the manner I propose: 
The Legislature of Virginia, it is to be remembered^ has been con- 
trolled the last forty years by men whose policy has at length culmi- 
nated in treason and attempted parricide. The legislation of 'tit- 
ginia, therefore, on this subject, imder such guidance; should not be 
taken as an earnest for what future legislation of the new State is to 
be, controlled, as We may hope it will be, by honest and earnest men,' 
chastened and made wise an'd prudent by the solemn lessons of the 
past. It is the abuie, not the legitimate use, of the power, that has" 
produced the evil. Commit it, then, with unshaken confidence in 
the virtue and intelligence of the people, into the hands of their fu- 
ture representatives. Let the genius of the new State remain un- 
shackled ; and disenthrolled of a slave oligarchy, and clothed in the 
new, easy, and well-fitting garment we are preparing for her, and she 
will normally and rapidly develope, and at no distant day stand forth, 
in her indigenous beauty and strength. 



ON A PROPOSITION TO INSERT THIS CLAUSE OF THE 
VIRGINIA CONSTITUTION : "NO MINISTER OF THE 
GOSPEL OR PRIEST, OF ANY RELIGIOUS DENOMINA- 
TION, NOR SALARIED OFFICER OF ANY BANKING 
CORPORATION, OR COMPANY, SHALL BE CAPABLE 
OF BEING ELECTED TO EITHER HOUSE OF THE 
LEGISLATURE." 

Why should not these classes of our fellow-citizens, who bear 
■ K equally the burden of Government, in the form of taxes, &c, and 
enjoy no peculiar privilege or emolument from it, be denied the 



73 



honor and profit of a seat in the Legislature, whenever"] their fellow- 
citizens chose to give it ? There is no inherent incompatibility in 
either case, that should not be left to the citizens to determine, 
whether candidates, or voters. These classes equally with farmers, 
mechanics and merchants, the Government leaves to support them- 
selves and families — to earn their livelihood as best they can. And 
for examples of their competency, faithfulness and patriotism in de- 
liberative bodies, I need only refer to 1 the Chairman of the Legisla- 
tive Committee, Mr. Lamb, the Cashier of one of our principal 
Banks, who, we all feel, is the James Madison of this body ; 
and the Clergymen, representing the principal religious sects,- who 
are also, conspicuous, faithful and useful members. 

The proposition was rejected. 



I ALSO PREPARED THE FOLLOWING REM ARKS ON THE 
QUESTION OF GRADUAL EMANCIPATION OF SLAV- 
ERY, ANL> ITS SUBMISSION BY A SEPARATE POLL 
TO THE PEOPLE— TO BE SUBMITTED WHEN IT CAME 
UP. THE SEQUEL SHOWS HOW THE QUESTION WAS 
DISPOSED^OF. 

Is it best to ignore, insert unconditionally, or insert as the resolu- 
tion offered by the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Battelle, proposes, 
and refer the question to our constituents ? Though we are only the 
devisers and draftsmen of provisions that can have no life until rat- 
ified by the people, the Legislature of the Re-organized Govern- 
ment, and Congress, yet we give the substance and form, which 
neither party has power to alter Or change. They can only accept, 
or reject, though the last two may accept absolutely, or with speci- 
fied conditions annexed, to be approved afterwards by the people. 
Hence the delicacy and responsibility of our task. If we omit a 
right provision, or insert a wrong one, and the Constitution shall be 
rejected bv cither of the three parties, the new State fails, and the 
K 



74 



blame falls ©n us ; and the new State becomes, after so much labor, 
so much expense, so much talk, and so much hope — a stupendous 
abortion, a disgraceful humbug, without a parallel — and its projectors 
and conductors, including ourselves, Sir, will become objects of 
universal derision. West Virginia will have again to bend her neck 
to the iron yoke of the slave oligarchy of East Virginia, (as they will 
have two votes to our one) to be held with tightened chains and mul- 
tiplied burdens, to drag out a famishing and miserable existence. 

But gentlemen say ignore — that is, be entirely silent upon the 
subject. This will be a "negative pregnant." I ask, them, how 
Congress, whose approval we must have, and the outside world, 
whose emigration and capital we must also have, will interpret this 
silence ? I answer, they will say the people of West Virginia are 
unanimously pro-slavery. They can, and will give no other, for it is 
the only natural and legitimate interpretation at this time. 

Now, does any member believe that Congress, both Houses of 
which, have such large republican majorities, whose chart and com- 
pass are the Chicago platform — "no extension of slave territory, and 
no increase of slave power in the Senate/ or Electoral College," 
who believe slavery to be the prime cause of the present rebellion 
that has prostrated all business, caused to be raised an army of 
700,000 men, now costing from one to two million dollars per day — a 
rebellion that shakes, not only this country, but the civilized world — 
are going at this time, voluntarily, and' as a mere act of grace, to en- 
large a power, both in Congress, and the Electoral College, that is 
so prolific of evil, by giving the Old Dominion, — the acknowledged 
mother and guardian of the slave power — two additional slave Sena- 
tors, and Presidential electors, and at the same time establish a pre- 
cedent for multiplying the same power ad infinitum / If personally 
disposed, they dare not thus abjure all antecedents, apostatize all 
political principle, and betray all confidence ! We must insert in 
the Constitution some certain, though gradual extinction of slavery 
to secure success. 

But gentlemen say they shall be able to satisfy Congress that it 
will soon die out of itself. Congress will reply : then why don't you 
say so in the bond ! They will say — point us to any State where- it 
has died out of its own accord, and without positive enactment. 
They will point to Delaware, with only 2,289 slaves in 1850, and 
about the same now — and what is her status ! Our forty-four Count- 
ies had in 1850, 11,320 slaves, and in i860, 10,347, decrease, 973.; 



but Greenbrier had increased 631. And when gentlemen say our 
Senators will be practically free State men, Congress will point to 
Salsbury and Bavard, of Delaware, and perhaps to our own Vir- 
ginia Senators. But I dare not ask the indulgence of this body 
longer, on a proposition so self-evident. 

But what will it do for the new State, besides securing its timely 
deliverance and independent existence ? Will it harm any body ? 
Not one. About one-third of the slaves are already gone ; about 
two-thirds of what remain are the property of rebels, and will be 
confiscated ; not more than two thousand remain the property of 
loyal men. I would not vote for the measure if it was to deprive 
any loyal citizen of his property without due compensation. I would 
impose a tax on the realty and personalty of the State, and compen- 
sate the owners. This body, and its constituents, have no limit in 
the exercise of power to secure the greatest good to the greatest 
number^ except the Federal Constitution, and ordinance of the 
Wheeling Convention, the 20th of August last This provision inter- 
feres with no present vested right. " Partus sequitur ventrem," does 
not apply. Children begotten and born eighteen years hence, no 
person can have a vested right in. The 9th Section of said Ordi- 
nance, protects only "private rights and interest in land." Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Yoik, New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania, have all done it. All political parties concede the 
right to a people, when forming their organic law, to establish or 
abolish slavery. The dispute has been as to the power of Territorial 
Legislatures. No man is to lose. All slaves now in being, and all 
born for eighteen years, are to be sacredly protected as long as they 
live. No man wants slaves to be imported. 

But what shall we gain besides a deliverance from such bondage, 
with an independent and happy existence ? I answer, the status of a 
Free, in the place of a Slave State in the eyes of the whole outside 
world, and capital and people will immediately flow in, and the ad- 
vance in value of our now comparatively valueless lands, will com- 
pensate many fold any sacrifice the riddance of slavery shall occa- 
sion. Neither the Anglo Saxon, nor Celtic race will settle in a State 
while it bears the semblance of Slavery. 

Let us, then, submit the question, by a separate poll to our con- 
stituents, from whose eyes the rebellion has already shaken t)ie 
scales, and broken forever, I trust, the spell of corrupt men, which 
has so long controlled their minds, and manacled their energies. 



76 



They are already far in advance of us. They are ready to subor- 
dinate everything to establish the new State. And woe be to that 
member, who, preferring a delusive silence, shall, by his vote, con- 
tribute to withhold from his constituents and masters, a question on 
which their all depends, and the affirmative of which they stand 
ready to approve by an overwhelming vote. 

I have seen much of the institution of African Slavery. I do not 
regard it a sin per se.- It may be the normal condition of that^race. 
Climate and soil/ in many sections, may necessitate it. I have view- 
ed the subject in 'the light of expediency, merely, in regard to West 
Virginia, whose every hope of future prosperity and happiness, de- 
mands its gradual, though certain extinction, within her borders. 

All parties were disposed to postpone, the exciting subject until 
the other irnportant provisions were settled ; and still each party ex- 
pected ij: |to come up, and were silently preparing their forces to meet 
it. The opposition professed to receive frequently letters from 
Washington, stating it was the wish of Congress, the President and 
Cabinet, that the subject should, be ignored in our Constitution. The 
friends distrusting their statements, addressed letters to leading Re- 
publicans in both Houses of, Congress, who affirmed, emphatically, 
we should have rio chance for admission, unless a gradual emancipa- 
tion clause was inserted. The members, whose personal feelings 
were opposed to a new State in , any form, having failed in their 
previous attempts to defeat, without forfeiting the confidence of their 
constituents, counted, confidently, I think, on this subject to accom- 
plish the end. A few days before the time fixed for adjournment, 
Mr. Battelle, a delegate from Ohio County, offered the following 
resolutions,* making a few pertinent remarks : 

"i. Resolved, That at the same time when this Constitution is sub- 
mitted to the qualified voters of the proposed new State, to be voted 
for or against, an additional Section to Article — ; in the words fol- 
lowing : 

"No slave shall be brought, or free person of color come into this 
State for permanent residence after this Constitution goes into oper- 
ation ; and all children born of slave mothers after the year eighteen 
hundred and seventy, shall be free ; the males at the age of twenty- 
eight, and the females at the age of eighteen ; and the children of 
such females shall be free at birth. 



77 



"Shall be separately submitted to the qualified voters of the new 
State for their adoption or rejection ; and if a majority of the votes 
cast for and against said additional section, are in favor of its adop- 
tion, shall be made a part of Article — , of this Constitution, and 
not otherwise. 

"2. Resolved, That the Committee on the Schedule be, and they 
are hereby instructed to report the necessary provisions for carrying 
the foregoing resolutions iuto effect. 

"Mr. Sinsel moved to lay the resolutions on the table, and make 
them the order of the day for to-morrow, at iq o'clock in the morning. 

"Mr. Hall, of Marion, moved to lay the resolutions on the table 
without day; and upon this question the yeas and nays were de- 
manded, and the demand being sustained, the motion was adopted — 
yeas, 24 ; nays, 23." Two of the friends being absent. 

Yeas — Messrs. John Hall (President), Brown of Kanawha, Brum- 
field, Chapman, Carskadon, Dering, Dolly, Hall of Marion, Hay- 
mond, Harrison, Hubbs, Irvine, Lamb, Montague, McCutchen, Rob- 
inson, Ruffner, Sinsel, Stephenson of Clay, Stuart of Doddridge, 
Sheets, Smith, Van Winkle, Warder — 24. 

Nays — Messrs. Brown of Preston, Brooks, Battelle, Caldwell, Dille, 
Hervey, Hagar, Hoback, Lauck, Mahon, O'Brien, Parsons, Powell, 
Parker, Paxton, Pomeroy, Ryan, Simmons, Stevenson of Wood, 
Stewart of Wirt, Soper, Trainer, Wilson — 23. 

The Convention soon after adjourned. The opposition became 
alarmed at the strength of the friends, as shown by this vote, and 
that night were hard at work — with what success appeared the next 
morning. The friends met that evening, arranged to have all pres- 
ent at the opening next morning, and felt confident of their power to 
take up the resolutions and pass them. 

Soon after the meeting of the Convention, next morning, Mr. 
Dille, a delegate from Preston County, reckoned theretofore a 
staunch friend, and was present at the meeting of the friends the 
evening before, rose, and after making some sentimental, and gratu- 
latory remarks, said he was happy to announce that the exciting 
question, in relation to Slavery, had been compromised ! and pro- 
ceeded to relate what the compromise was. The opposition respond- 
ed with "honeyed commendation," and in this, to my painful con- 
fusion and surprise, Mr. Battelle, who had offered the resolutions, 
appeared to acquiesce, or became bewildered, as he put forth none of 



78 



his acknowledged powers, in support of his resolutions, and moved 
that what Mr. Dille had proposed as a compromise, after its adop- 
tion, be referred to the Committee on Revision, to be inserted in its 
proper place, in the Constitution. The friends had regarded him as 
among its ablest supporters, having always acted as such, and about 
that time had published and widely circulated a pamphlet in favor 
of gradual emancipation. Many others theretofore acting with us, 
ioined the stampede, openly approving or silently acquiescing in Mr. 
Dille's proposition, I saw at a glance that all hope was at an 
end in that body. I expressed my dissent to any compromise, and 
firm conviction it would not satisfy Congress. The first branch of 
the resolution was passed, with but one dissenting vote — Mr. Brum- 
field regarded it as too hostile to the "peculiar institu- 
tion." I voted for it, believing it would do no harm as the measure 
stood, and ifj perchance, revived, would prevent the importation of 
slaves, and shut out no free negroes, as none would wish to come. 
Besides, it is my nature, under such circumstances } to gratify as many 
of my fellow-citizens as possible. Soon after f withdrew from the 
Convention, resolved to have an expression of the people upon the 
subject at the time the Constitution was voted on, though in an in- 
formal manner. 

I discovered on that occasion, as I had never before, the myster- 
ious and over-powering influence "the peculiar institution" had on men 
otherwise sane and reliable. Why, when Mr. Battelle submitted 
his resolutions, a kind of tremor — a holy horror, was visible throughout 
the house 1 



On my way home, on the steamboat, I drew up the following form 
of instructions to Delegates in the Convention, and members of the 
Legislature, went to Ironton, Ohio, and got a sufficient quantity 
printed, and sent them to reliable persons in all the Counties, inter- 
ested in the matter, explaining the necessity, and suggesting that 
separate polls be opened at all the voting precincts when the Con- 
stitution was voted on, and also at the military camps. 



7U 



INSTRUCTIONS. 

To our Senators, and Delegates to the Convention 
and Legislature, upon the question of Gradual 
Emancipation, viz : 

"All children born of slave mothers in this State, 
after the Constitution goes into operation, shall be 
free, males at the age of twenty-eight years, and fe- 
males at the age of eighteen years, and the children of 
such females to be free at birth." 

The Senators and Delegates are authorized and in- 
structed to make the foregoing provision a part of the 
Constitution, if the speedy admission of the new State 
into the Union shall require it. 



About the same time 1 issued the following Circular to my con- 
stituents : 

TO THE LOYAL PEOPLE OF CABELL COUNTY, VA. 

Fellow-Citizens : The Convention in which I had the honor to 1 
represent you, having closed its principal labors, I propose to give 
you an account of my stewardship. It would have been agreeable to 
have met you in person and delivered it, if circumstances would allow ; 
but as things are at the present time in our County, I hope the mode 
I have adopted will not be unacceptable. 

Although my residence among you has been comparatively short,' 
our relations and intercourse have been of a character to give pretty 
thorough knowledge of each other, and the common hopes and inter- 
ests that should animate us all ; and I can say with truth, that with 
few exceptions, this intercourse has been kind, courteous and agree- 
able. 

But when the political storm burst upon our heads, nearly a year 
ago — like a thunderbolt irom a clear sky — what a change took place ! 
Kind and obliging neighbors and friends found themselves, all at 
Once, entirely estranged and deadly enemies — thirsting for each other's 



80 



blood ! In the place of the warm and cheerful benevolence we had 
been wont to meet in the countenances of friends, there radiated a 
condensed, cold and malignant venom, which benumbed the heart 
and congealed all sympathy. The moral and social sun hid his face 
behind thick clouds, and the desolation and suffering that have en- 
sued since, 'all have felt, and they can describe. 

The occasion does not call upon me to arraign the motives or cen- 
sure the conduct of any of my former friends and fellow-citizens, 
who in my judgment have been so fatally misled, and to whom the 
seasonable warning of a friend was not wanting — nor to extol the 
merits of such as have proven loyal and true amidst all trials, to the 
old flag and the best Government in the world. The merits and de- 
merits of both parties belong to the lawful authorities and future 
history to decide. 

The bolt had struck, the tornado had passed, and nothing but des- 
olation and suffering lay in the track, when the Convention was call- 
ed upon to save what it could from the wreck. It labored with zeal 
and a sincere desire to rescue and make safe the great interests of 
the people' of West Virginia, and the Constitution proposed for ybWr 
ratification is the result of its labors. 

It is not perfect; time and experience will disclose defects^ for the 
correction of which the instrument itself provides a plain and easy 
method. 

John Letcher and Company abjured and set at naught, without 
cause, their solemn oaths to support the Constitution of the United 
States, which is the Supreme Law of the Land ;■ attempted to trans- 
fer the State to the so-called Southern Confederacy, and thereby 
abdicated the Government of Virginia, and the powers thereof being 
incapable of annihilation, returned to the people — the source from 
which all power is derived. But as the disloyal portion, who adhered 
to Letcher and Company, were participes criminis, equally guilty, 
they could not take advantage of the forfeiture, as it would be taking 
"advantage of their own wrong," which the law of the civilized world 
forbids. - - 

The loyal portion only could take advantage of the forfeiture, and 
restore and re-organize the Government of Virginia. This the loyal 
people did by their delegates who assembled in Convention at 
Wheeling, on the nth day of June last. This Convention, constitu- 
tionally and legally represented the whole loyal people of Virginia, 



Si 

who were tlie dwriers of the subject matter proposed to be divided, 
and that Convention gave its consent to the division, and ordered 
the present Convention to form a Constitution for the proposed new 
State, 

There can be no question, therefore, as to the legitimacy of the 
tfheasure. 

Nor is the expediency of the' measure at this' tinie less clear: 
Eastern Virginia has,' or must soon become, a heap of bankruptcy 
and ruin, which her own folly and wickedness will have produced. She 
had not the slightest claiiri or right to drag West Virginia down to 
ruin with hefself. The West had long been the object of unmerited 
oppression and plunder; and it became the imperative duty of the 
West to cdt loose and save herself if possible. It would have been 
&fl act of sheer madness not to have done so: For more than thirty 
years, it has been conceded by all, that the people West of the 
Allegharties had no commercial b'r business connection, nor congeni- 
ality, with the people east of that natural barrier: The whole inter- 
ests of the West are with the Ohio River, into which all its rivers 
flow, and with the great States and cities which lie upon that river. 
Why, then, continue longer this unnatural connection with the self- 
ruined and immolated people of the East, who will' have no ability or 
disposition to help us, but only the power and will to demand arid 
take by fdrce- y ah we possess ?— for they can Out vote us, and . oblige us 
to help pay the immense State debt their treason, has created ; and 
much of which they will hold, and at some future time, will "log roll" 
and cajole our representatives, as in time past, to help pay. 

It was the opinion of a very large majority of the Convention, that 
the true interests' and future well-being of West Virginia required a 
Constitution and form of Government resembling, in its main features 
at least, the Governments of those great States which have grown up 
as if by magic at the North and West of us, that the name and re- 
pulsive phantom of the little remnant of slavery should be gotten rid 
of as soon as practicable, without the sacrifice of rights of loyal 
men, and induce capital and free labor to flow iri from' abroad, as the 
only means of developing the wealth of the fiew State. You will 
find the Constitution is framed to meet and foster the great interests 
of the masses — the many, and not a favored few ; and that there 
are to be no superfluous and sinecure officers — none but what are 
absolutely needed, and these paid no more than a reasonable com- 
pensation, and held at all times strictly accountable to the people. 
J, 



It will be among the most economical State Governments m the 
country. Nor can the State squander the peoples' money by enter- 
ing into private schemes of speculation and "log-rolling,'" which had 
brought upon the old State, prior to the rebellion, a debt of about 
forty million dollars, without any adequate return. 

A liberal system of free schools is provided, which are to be open and 
accessible to all children, the rich and poor alike, and free of charge. 
I know this will gladden the hearts of the parents living along the 
creeks, the generous hospitality of whose cabins I have often shared, 
and noticed with interest the embryo genius and native talent of 
their unschooled children. The hopes of these parents will no longer 
be blighted. The faculties with which God endows their children, 
however humble, the free school will quicken and bring out, to ele- 
vate and bless the children, and repay with joy and just pride the 
parents, and add glory and strength to our country. 

The new Constitution makes a radical change in the County or- 
ganization. The County Court is abolished. There will be four 
terms of the Circuit Court a year. The Counties are to be divided 
into Townships, to contain not less than 400 inhabitants each. Each 
Township is to choose a Supervisor, Clerk, Surveyor of Roads, one 
Justice of the Peace, and one Constable^ and when the Township 
contains 1200 inhabitants,, or more r they may choose two Justices 
and two Constables. The Justice will have jurisdiction in civil cases 
to the amount of $ioo y and either party can demand a jury of six 
men. 

These Townships will constitute so many separate communities, 
who will meet in town-meetings and discuss and transact their busi- 
ness. They will constitute the peoples' primary school in politics, 
and the great science of selfgovermjfe?ii. Somewhere near the cen- 
tre, or at the most accessible point of each Township, should be or- 
dinarily a School-house, Town-house, Store, and center of business. 

The people will transact their business at this center, instead of 
going to the County seat. Our County will admit of seven or eight 
Townships. The Supervisors of the several Townships of the Coun- 
ty constitute the County Board, which has charge of the affairs of 
the County. With the Constitution in your hands, you can run out 
the details and make the figures. If properly managed, the system, 
cannot fail to distribute and equalize political and social power, and; 
make every man a free?nafi, and every freeman, a freetnan indeed. 
All will depend upon our own management. 



By referring to the Article on Taxation and Finance, you will find 
that a very important change has been made. By the new Constitu- 
tion, all taxes are to be "uniform and equaP on all property accord- 
ing to its value. Your negro and my horse are both taxed according 
to their market value. By the law of Virginia, your slave, though 
worth $i,8oo, can be taxed for only $300 ; and if the slave be twelve 
years of age, or under, and worth $600 or $700, he is not taxed at 
all ; while my yearling calf, colt, lamb, axe, plough, and every other 
species of property, are taxed to their full value. Every species of 
industry, earnings and income are taxed by the law of Virginia. No 
citizen can open a store for the convenience of his neighborhood, or 
act as commission merchant to sell his neighbor's produce, without 
first obtaining a license and paying from $10 to $100. The daily 
earnings of clerks, engineers, and even day laborers — all of which 
go as fast as earned to support their families — are, or are liable to be, 
taxed under the head of Income Tax, to replenish the Treasury at 
Richmond ; while not less than two hundred million dollars ivottk of 
slave property, owned mostly in Eastern Virginia, has never been taxed 
at all. What unparalleled injustice ! Nothing in the past or pres- 
ent, in any country, equals it — and all in favor §f slave-ow?iers / 
Who have been your leading men, and represented your interests at 
Richmond in times past, and tamely submitted y@ur necks to such 
unjust and disgraceful burdens ? Some of these leaders still remain 
among you— but "by their fruits ye shall know them." All this 
iniquity the new Constitution cuts up, root and branch. All property 
is to be taxed according to its market value, and the skill, energy and 
sinews of freemen are left untaxed. 

There is one other subject to which it is my duty to call your atten- 
tion. I shall approach it with the same freedom and boldness as 
any other subject which I think may lie in the way of the ultimate 
success of the new State in Congress. My antecedents and political 
opinions I have frankly avowed, and most, if not all of you, know 
what they are. I was raised amid the free institutions of the North, 
but have spent the last fourteen years amidst the "peculiar institu- 
tion," and have probably seen and had as much to do with that insti- 
tution as any other man in West Virginia, and am qualified to judge 
of its benefits and evils. I do not believe the relation of master and 
servant necessarily implies a sin, but in many cases it is a positive 
blessing to the black race. It is the white race that suffers from the 
contact, as a general thing. I believe that we have in some parts of 



*4 



our country, climate, soil and productions that necessitate this species 
of labor ; but none of these exist in West Virginia any more than in 
Ohio and Pennsylvania. I went to the Convention resolved to .look 
' V ! as at any other, in the light of expediency only, and 

to subordinate this as any other, when necessary in my judgment to 
obtain the great object in view— the establishment of the new State, 
and secure the greatest good to the greatest number of rny constit- 
uents. 

By the census, of i860, there were in the forty-four Counties com- 
prising the ne'w State, only 10,147 slaves, and 336,107 whites— about; 
three per cent., qr three slaves to one hundred whites. Probably 
one-third qf these have disappeared since the rebellion commenced, 
and two-thirds of the remainder belong to rebels and are liable to 
confiscation— cleaving at present about 2,000, the property of loyal 
men. And while I regard this property of loyal men as sacred and 
inviolable as any other^ I consider the interest too inconsiderable to 
be permitted to st^nd in the way of a speedy admission by Congress 
of the new State a^d its future well-qeing ; and if its removal re-r 
quires, I stand ready for rnyself and the Companies I represent, tq 
levy a tax to remunerate loyal owners. 

It becarne apparent to my mind more than a month ago, that Con- 
gress would not admit the new State if the Constitution was simply 
silent on the subject ; but that it would require some positive declara- 
tion to secure admission, as Congress would never consent to make 
two slave States out of the Old Dominion, and increase the slave 
power in the Senate by adding two slave Senators. Besides, it 
would be setting a precedent that would oblige Congress to consent 
to the division of other slave States, and so increase the slave power 
in the Senate ad infinitum. 

I wrote to several conservative members of Congress for their 
opinion, which was adverse to admission unless some positive declara- 
tion of a gradual emancipation was, made in the Constitution. I felt 
all along the vital importance of getting admitted by Congress at the 
present session. The establishment of our new State requires the 
consent of our Legislature, and also of Congress. As soon as the 
rebellion shall be crushed in East Virginia, they may send in their 
Delegates to the Wheeling Legislature and secure a majority ad- 
verse to letting us go. I brought these facts to the notice of the 
members, and urged the imperative necessity of making some posi- 



tive declaration upon the subject. I found many viewed the necess- 
ity as I did, but shrunk from taking the responsibility of acting be- 
fore consulting their constituents. I then proposed to submit the 
substance of the provisions, proposed by Mr. Battelle, first, "That 
no slave shall be brought, or free person of color come, into this 
State for permanent residence,'' and second, "That all children born 
of slave mothers in this State after 1870, shall be free, males at the 
age of twenty-eight, females at the age of eighteen, and all children 
born of such females to be free at birth," by a separate poll to the 
vote of our constituents, at the same time the Constitution was vot- 
ed on ; and if a majority of those voting on the question said so, 
these provisions should become parts of the Constitution, otherwise 
not. But a timidity in some, and honest, I presume, but inscrutable 
policy in others, refused to submit the question to the people, assign- 
ing as a reason that it was not safe to trust the people with the sub- 
ject in these exciting times. After much talk about mutual conces- 
sion, and considerable labor to give it the dignity of a compromise, 
to which I dissented, it was voted with but one dissenting vote, to 
put the first clause in the Constitution. I voted for inserting the 
first provision as likely to do some good, and expressed my decided 
belief that this would not be sufficient to secure an admission by 
Congress. I entertain the same opinion now. The Convention is 
not dissolved, but will be called together again if found necessary. 
When you vote upon the Constitution the first Thursday in April, 
you will do well to instruct your Delegates, both in the Convention 
and Legislature, and our Senator, to insert the second provision, or 
some other, if found necessary, to secure the consent and admission 
by Congress at its present session. The. people of the other Counties 
intend to take this course, and if you view the matter in the light 
that I do, you will not hesitate to do it. 

The only hope of the new State, on which so much depends, now 
rests with the loyal people. Their prompt, firm and independent 
action will save it. I was satisfied that some of the members of the 
Convention would not, if they could. Such do not realize the great 
change that the present rebellion is daily working. They forget that 
treason has destroyed all that was great, good, and valuable, in old 
Virginia. They do not appreciate that the rebellion is shaking the 
scales from the peoples' eyes, and has already broken the spell of 
corrupt men which has so long controlled the minds and manacled 
the energies of the masses ; otherwise they would not have withheld 



86 

this question from their constituents. The responsibility of so un- 
wise a course rests with them. 

Your friend and fellow-citizen, 
March 4, 1862. G. PARKER. 

The Ironton journal that printed the Circular inserted it in its 
paper I think ; and my impression is, I enclosed a copy to the 
Wheeling I?itelligenccr. The Editor of the latter journal was so 
kind as to give it the following notice, which appeared in his Daily 
the 24th of March, 1862 : 



"THE MISTAKE OF THE CONVENTION— WHEREIN THE 
REMEDY LIES. 

"Granville Parker, member of the Convention from Cabell 
County, has issued an address to his constituents from which we ex- 
tract the following : 

'I wrote to several conservative members of Congress for their 
opinion, which was adverse to admission unless some positive decla- 
ration of a gradual emancipation was made in the Constitution. I felt 
all along the vital importance of getting admitted by Congress at the 
present session. The establishment of our new State requires the 
consent of our Legislature, and also of Congress. As soon as the 
rebellion shall be crushed in East Virginia, they may send in their 
Delegates to the Wheeling Legislature and secure a majority adverse 
to letting us go. I brought these facts to the notice of the members, 
and urged the imperative necessity of making some positive declara- 
tion upon the subject. I found many viewed the necessity as I did, 
but shrunk from taking the responsibility of acting before consulting 
their constituents. 

'I then proposed to submit the substance of the provisions, propos- 
ed by Mr. Battelle, first, "That no slave shall be brought or free per- 
son of color come into this State for permanent residence," and sec- 
ond, "That all children born of slave mothers in this State after 1870, 
shall be free, males at the age of 28, females at the age of 18, and all 
children born of such females to be free at birth," by a separate poll 
to the vote of our constituents, at the same time the Constitution was 
voted on ; and if a majority of those voting on the question said so, 
these provisions should become parts of the Constitution, otherwise 



87 



not. But a timidity, in some, and honest, I presume, but inscrutable 
policy in others, refused to submit the question to the people, as- 
signing as a reason that it was not safe to trust the people with the 
subject in these exciting times. After much talk about mutual con- 
cession, and considerable labor to give it the dignity of a compro- 
mise, to which I dissented, it was voted with but one dissenting vote, 
to put the first clause m the Constitution. I voted for inserting the 
first provision as likely to do some good, and expressed my decided 
belief that this would not be sufficient to secure an admission by 
Congress. I entertain the same opinion now. 

'The Convention is not dissolved, but will be called together again 
if found necessary. When you vote upon the Constitution the first 
Thursday in April, you will do well to instruct your Delegates, both 
in the Convention and Legislature, and our Senator, to insert the sec- 
ond provision, or some other, if found necessary, to secure the con- 
sent and admission by Congress at its present session. The people 
of the other counties intend to take this course, and if you view the 
matter in the light that I do, you will not hesitate to do it. 

'The only hope of the new State, on which so much depends, now 
rests with the loyal people. Their prompt, firm and independent action 
will save it. I was satisfied that some of the members of the Con- 
vention would not, if they could. Such do not realize the great 
change that the present rebellion is daily working. They forget that 
treason has destroyed all that was great, good and valuable in Old 
Virginia. They do not appreciate that this rebellion is shaking the 
scales Irom the peoples' eyes, and has already broken the spell of 
corrupt men which has so long controlled the minds and manacled 
the energies of the masses • otherwise they would not have withheld 
this question from their constituents. The responsibility of so un- 
wise a course rests with them." 



[Letter to Wheeling Intelligencer, March 17, 1862.] 
WHAT POWERS WILL THE LEGISLATURE HAVE OVER 

THE NEW STATE WHEN IT CONVENES ? 
Editors Intelligencer : 

This question, in the present posture of things, has become one of 
vital importance to the success of the new State. Our experience 



88 



with men has taught us when their acts and professions differ, to take 
the former as the surer index of their real intentions. This rule 
constrains us to believe that many members of the Convention^ not- 
withstanding their talk, do not desire a new State ; hut prefer that 
the Old Dominion remain as it is. Others desire a new State, pro- 
vided it shall extend to the Blue Ridge and embrace about 60,000 
slaves ; enough to secure the perpetuity of this institution in its 
former vigor. Nor are we alone in this conclusion ; the public gen- 
erally concur with us. 

It is the right of the people that all repre^senfa-fcrve men should be' 
"unmasked," cost what it may. The times are too eventful and se- 
vere to indulge in plaij-acting ; arid* individuals, however high they 
may have stood heretofore must expect to fall, if they are not what 
they profess, and stand in the way of the people, who are about to 
take the reins into their own hands. And the saddest of all is that 
a majority of the five special Commissioners to whom the Conven- 
tion intrusted so much, is believed to be of this class. With the 
loyal people then, the success of the new State rests. If they have 
nerve and courage enough to carry the measure through in spite of 
their former leaders we shall have a new State, and that a free o^e — 
otherwise, not. It was in this connection that we proposed in a 
former number the necessity of the people giving to their Senators' 
and Delegates, both to the Convention and Legislature, explicit in- 
structions which will at once test the sincerity of the Representatives ;' 
and whoever objects or opposes such instructions being given, or re- 
fuses to obey them afterwards, the people may safely set down as 
among the class we have indicated. We speak thus plainly, because 
the occasion and the greatness of the stake demand it. 

Whatever difference of opinion may have formerly existed, we 
take it now to be conceded by all that the Convention, which as- 
sembled at Wheeling on the nth of June last, and the Legislature 
that was assembled, by its order, at the same place on 
the 1st of July following, represented, legally and constitutionally, all 
the loyal people of the State" of Virginia, the subject matter proposed 
to be divided ; and that the Convention which assembled at Wheel- 
ing on the 26th of November last, represented constitutionally and 
legally only a portion of that 7vkole — that is, the loyal people resid- 
ing within the original thirty-nine Counties which were included ab- 
solutely in the proposed new State, and the Counties of Hampshire 
and Hardy, which had complied with the conditions prescribed by 



80 

ihe ordinance of the first named Convention, passed the 20th of 
August last — making forty-one Counties. That ordinance ordered 
the last named Convention, and prescribed specifically its powers 
and duties, viz : "To form a Constitution for the government of 
the proposed new State" — that is, for the forty-one Counties, and no 
more. By this ordinance the last named Convention was" absolutely 
bound. It had no power, of itself, to extend the bounds one inch 
beyond the forty-one Counties. All that has been done by that Con- 
vention in relation to including the Counties of McDowell, Mercer, 
Monroe, Gieenbrier and Pocahontas, absolutely; or Pendleton, 
Hardy, Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley, Jefferson and' Frederick, con- 
ditionally, (for Hardy and Hampshire elected to take this position,) 
is nothing more than an expression of the wish of the Convention to 
the Legislature, and has no other force. The Legislature represents 
in a subordinate capacity, the loyal people of all Virginia ; and the 
question arises can this Legislature change the boundaries ? 

There is serious doubt in" our mind's whether any body short of a' 
Convention representing the whole people of Virginia, in their sov- 
ereign capacity, h'as the power to ch'ange them under the present or- 
der of things. It is true that the 3d Sec. of the 7th Art. of the U. 
S. Constitution requires only the consent of the Legislature of the 
State proposed to be divided, and of Congress, in order to erect a 
new State within the bounds of an old one. Yet, as' the Convention 
which assembled on the nth of June last represented all the loyal 
people of Virginia, in whom was vested the sovereign power, and 
representing the people in their sovereign capacity, restored and re- 
organized the Government by causing to be convened on the 1st of 
July a Legislature ; and at the same session; and in the exercise of 
the same sovereign power, passed the ordinance of the 20th of 
August last, consenting to a division, and establishing' the boundaries, 
without delegating to that Legislature any power to Change them — is 
it competent for the Legislature, whose powers must be taken to be 
subordinate to the powers of such a Convention, now to change them ? 
Certainly not, unless the powers of the Legislature are superior to 
or co-ordinate with the powers of such a Convention, unless the 
creature's, are superior to, or co-ordinate with, the pow'er'sof the creator, 
which cannot be. Nor can the fact that the Federal Constitution 
(though the supreme law of the land' within the scope of its powers) 
makes the consent of the Legislature sufficient to such a new State 
within the bounds of the old' one, change the relative powers of the 
M 



90 



two bodies, at least so far as the people of Virginia and the fixing of 
the boundaries are concerned. As to these, the people have spoken 
in their sovereign capacity, and the Legislature and all other inferiors 
must obey. In order, however, to conform to the letter of the Con- 
stitution, and especially to the requirements of the 8th Section of the 
Ordinance passed on the 20th of August last, the Legislature should 
be convened, and give its consent to said division, conformably to 
the bounds fixed by said ordinance, excluding, however, the counties 
of Hardy and Hampshire, agreeably to their express election. 

The counties of McDowell, Mercer, Greenbrier, Monroe and Poca- 
hontas lie on this side of the ridge of the Alleghanies, and there exists 
a commercial and military necessity for including them within the 
new State ; and upon this ground, and as then advised, we advocated 
and voted for recommending to the Legislature to include them, 
which it should do, if it concludes it has the power. But we oppos- 
ed by advocacy and vote, any recommendation to the Legislature, to 
include the other seven Counties, which lie" on the other side of the 
Alleghanies, that natural barrier : First/ because they lie on the other 
side of that natural boundary, and have little or no commercial or 
business connection with us ; second, because their inclusion would 
more than double the number of slaves, include a people whose in- 
terests and feelings are not homogenous with our own, and who had 
given no evidence whatever of a desire to be included ; and third, 
because in a military point of view, it would give a frontier along Old 
Virginia and Maryland, both slave States, of about 700 miles, in the 
place of only about 35 or 50 miles, from the southwest corner of 
Pendleton, straight up the Alleghany ridge, to the' "Fairfax Store." 
But we were out-voted by reason of the interest and influence of the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and had to submit. Our conviction 
was then that the success and prosperity of the new State depended 
upon stopping at the ridge of the Alleghanies, and of making ours 
a free State ; and the votes of the delegates from Hampshire and 
Hardy afterwards, upon the emancipation clause, confirmed that 
conviction. 

We believed then, and are confident now, that that was the only 
way to harmonize the views of our own people and Congress so as 
to insure success ; and the failure in this is the very rock on which" 
the enemies have hoped all along, to wreck the entire new State 
project. 



91 



The instructions by the people, as proposed, and the fidelity and 
courage on the part of the members of the Legislature that reside on 
this side of the Alleghanies, can alone save it from such a wreck. 

One word more, and we say it with profound deference and re- 
spect, touching the important duties it will impose upon these mem- 
bers of the Legislature. Whilst they are members of a Legislature 
which represents all the loyal people of Virginia, they will be under 
the instruction of their immediate constituents — the loyal voters of 
the Cis-Alleghany. We should scorn to ask or expect them to do 
any act that is not just and honorable to the whole State. But if 
the instructions shall be such as to evince a conviction in the minds 
of a majority of their loyal constituents that the gradual emancipa- 
tion proposed is necessary to secure the success of the new State in 
Congress, they will not shrink from the responsibility of adding it 
absolutely, as the authorized agents of such constituents, or subject 
to a subsequent ratification by the people, 

The idea that the people on this side the Alleghanies ought to 
shape the internal structure of their government to suit the tastes, 
prejudice or whims of outsiders except so far as shall be necessary 
to insure the approval of the Legislature and Congress, and not their 
own best interest — is simply absurd ; and will only excite the deris- 
ion of the old and other border States, thus sought to be conciliated. 
Let the people simply be true to themselves and their own best in- 
terests, and they will secure the esteem and respect of the loyal and 
good everywhere. 

We perceive that the Schedule makes it the duty of the Commis- 
sioners to submit the Constitution to the qualified voters of fifty-one, 
instead of the forty-one Counties which comprise, according to the 
ordinance, "the proposed new State," and also the nth Section of 
the Schedule commands the Commissioners in case the Convention 
shall be re-convened, to take the necessary steps to secure a repre- 
sentation from the fifty-one Counties in the Convention, all of which 
is in direct violation of the Ordinance passed the 20th of August 
last, and therefore void ; and, if our reasoning is correct, the Legisla- 
ture has no power to give it validity. These provisions were insert- 
ed in the Schedule after we left the Convention. 

What a pity, that after rearing so goodly a structure the friends 
and the foes should have united in keeping out the key stone of the 
arch, on which the whole depends. The Legislature, in obedience to 



92 



instructions we confidently hope and expect to see given, \vill }iave 
the high honor of putting in its place the "stone which the builders 
rejected," and thus averj: the impending fall of a structure that has 
cost so much and on which so much depends. 

Let the people then rise in the majesty and strength with which 
God and the wise and good Fathers have clothed them ; vote, one 
and all, for the Constitution and the proposed Instructions, and if 
enemies oppose, remove them. Cabell. 

I think the loyal people of Upshur County, to whom copies of 
the Instructions had been forwarded, were first to respond, which 
they did with the downright earnestness, so characteristic of them at 
that period, at a large mass meeting, held at Buchanan the 17th of 
March, of which the Intelligence?' of the 24th of same month gave 
the following account, with its approval and earnest recommendation. 



UPSHUR COUNTY ON THE CRISIS— SHE COIVfES BRAVE- 
LY UP TO THE WORK, AND "TALKS RIGHT OUT IN 
MEETIN' "—PATRIOTIC RESOLUTIONS/ 
Pursuant to previous notice there was a grand turnout of the peo- 
ple of Upshur County, at Buchanan, their County seat, on Mon- 
day, the 17th of March, 1862, (that being the first day of the quar- 
terly Court,) to take into consideration w 7 hat should be their action 
in regard to the adoption of the Constitution, recently adopted by 
the Convention at Wheeling, for the new State of West Virginia. At 
noon, the Court having taken a recess, the people assembled at the 
Court House. Whereupon, on motion of F. Berlin, Esq., Dr. 
David S. Pinnell, was unanimously elected President of the meet- 
ing, who upon taking the Chair delivered an able address to the 
meeting fully explaining the objects and purposes of the meeting, 
and urged the people to speak out fully and freely their sentiments 
upon all subjects under consideration, either pro or con, without fear, 
favor or affection. On motion, C. P. Rohrbaugh, Esq., was unani- 
mously elected Secretary. D. D. T. Farnsworth, Esq., moved a 
Committee of twelve, consisting of three from each magisterial dis- 
trict be appointed by the Chair to report business for the meeting, 



93 



which motion was adopted. Whereupon the President appointed the 
following gentlemen on said Committee, namely : 

First District — R. Fretwell, N. B. Warmsly and Lair. Dean. 
Second District — C. B. Loudin, Lewis Karickhoff and Job 
Hinkle. 

Thifd District — F.Berlin, D. D. T. Farnsworth and N. C. 
Loudin. 

Fourth District — Samuel Wilson, C. S. Haynes and Ashley 
Gould. 

The Committee then retired to perform its duties, and during its 
absence Spencer Dayton, Esq., of Barbour County entertained the 
meeting with an able address upon the various topics under con- 
sideration. 

The Committee after having been absent some time returned and 
reported the following preamble and resolutions : 

Whereas, It is the desire of the people of West Virginia to or- 
ganize themselves into a new State as a loyal State of this Union, 
with a view of securing to themselves the largest amount of liberty, 
security and prosperity. And whereas it is the further desire of the 
people to aid the General Government in suppressing the present 
iniquitous rebellion in the Southern States of this Union, therefore, 

i st Resolved, That we do most heartily endorse the pplicy adopted 
and pursued by the Administration at Washington, to suppress and 
crush out the present unrighteous and wicked rebellion, and to re- 
store our national Union. 

2d. That we, the citizens of Upshur County, do endorse and ac- 
cept the policy recommended by the present Chief Magistrate of the 
United States, (Abraham Lincoln,) in his message of the 6th of 
March, 1862, to Congress, in regard to the emancipation of the 
slaves of the Border States, as the policy that should be adopted by 
the people of West Virginia; and we do now pledge ourselves to 
advocate, defend and carry out the said policy, as most promotive of 
our liberty, safety and prosperity in the Union. 

3d. That we had hoped and expected that the late Convention to 
frame a Constitution for the new State, would have given the people 
a chance to express their sentiments upon the subject of slavery in 
the proposed new State. And believing as we do, that a decided 



94 



majority of the people are in favor of gradual emancipation, we there- 
fore regard the action of the said Convention as not reflecting the 
Will of the people. 

4th. That we will open a separate poll book for this County, in 
order to enable the people to express their preferences for or against 
slavery within the proposed new State, when called upon to vote upon 
the proposed Constitution ; and we earnestly invite our fellow-citizens 
throughout the proposed new State to open poll books for a like 
purpose. 

5th. That we deprecate and detest the insulting efforts of those 
who are now striving to intimidate our purpose by denouncing as 
abolitionists those who, to promote the prosperity of West Virginia 
and develop its natural resources, advocate the exclusion of the in- 
stitution of slavery from the proposed new State. 

6th. That we regret the course of some of our newspapers that 
are daily agitating the question of slavery with as much zeal as do 
Jthe rebel papers of the South, or the extreme abolition papers of the 
North. And this, too, by a set of cowardly newspaper writers and 
editors, who would not risk a hair of their heads in defence of the 
Union. 

The resolutions were then read to the meeting and were unani- 
mously adopted with the greatest enthusiasm. 
On motion of R. Fretwell, Esq., it was 

Resolved, That the President and Secretary sign the proceedings 
of this meeting, and that the newspapers of Wheeling, Parkersburg, 
Clarksburg, Fairmont, and the National Intelligencer be requested to 
publish the same. 

After the adoption of the foregoing resolutions, D. D. T. Farns- 
worth, Esq., being loudly called for, appeared upon the stand and 
delivered a most able and telling speech upon the various topics be- 
fore the meeting, which was cheered by a hearty roar of applause 
from the entire house, and produced the greatest enthusiasm among 
the people. 

D. S. Pinnell, President. 

C. P. Rohrbaugh, Secretary. 



This set the ball in motion. The loyal people of other Counties 
soon after followed, together with several of the loyal papers, either 



by copying the "Instructions/' with commendation, or, approving 
and recommending the measure proposed. Though it appears Ohio 
County made no arrangement for the informal vote of instruction till 
a day or two before the election, April 3d. 

The opposition became alarmed, and spared no pains to prevent 
such an expression being made. They made every effort to squelch 
it altogether. Notwithstanding, on the day of election, April 3, 1862, 
the informal poll was opened in about twenty Counties, and the 
vote for gradual emancipation was nearly equal to that for the Con- 
stitution as proposed, both being nearly unanimous. 

I give the following returns as samples of the way the vote stood 
in Counties where separate polls were opened, in all, or some precincts: 
Preston, for the Constitution, 1493, against, 11 ; for Emancipation,' 
1320, against, 93. Upshur, for the Constitution, 719, against, 2 ; for 1 
Emancipation, 594, against, 13. Monongalia, (Senator Willey's* 
County,) for Constitution, 1148, against, 17 ; for Emancipation, 649/ 
against, 185. Marshall, for Constitution, 1053, against, 34 ; for Eman- 
cipation, 795, against, 71. Ohio, for Constitution, 1023, against, 31 ; 
for Emancipation, 875, against, 54. Brooke, for Constitution, 292,' 
against, 45 ; for Emancipation, 248, against, 43. Hancock, for' 
Constitution, 225, against, 73 ; for Emancipation, 217, against, 44. 
Cabell, for Constitution, 269, against, 1 ; for Emancipation, 244, 
against, 26. 

The following from the" Wellsbufg Hej-cild arid Wheeling Intelli- 
gencer^ show how this informal vote was regarded by these papers 
and the public": 

From'the Wellsbufg Herald, April 25, 1862. 
"THE VOTE' ON' EMANCIPATION IN WEST VIRGINIA. 

The vote' seems to have taken everybody by surprise, those friend- 
ly to gradual emancipation as well as those opposed to it. It has, in 
the eyes of the public outside' of Western Virginia, completely over- 
slaughed the vote on the adoption of the Constitution itself, though 
this latter was the thing regularly voted upon! The article printed in 
the Herald^ immediately after the election, commenting on the edu- 
cationary effect of the war as displayed in the unlooked for majority 
for emancipation, has attained a wide publicity solely by the singu- 
larity of the' facts and the" importance of the result' foreshadowed." 



The attention of the loyal United States, and doubtless of the disloy- 
al, has been turned by this vote, upon Western Virginia, and it is felt 
to be a blow at slavery, and through it at rebellion, from the right 
quarter, that cripples the rebellion more than the defeat of an army; 
and at the same time indicates its suppression with a certainty, as to 
the manner, that is understood to be inevitable. 

The vote, be it always borne in mind, was taken under most ad- 
verse conditions. In many counties, no vote was' taken, for the rea- 
son that parties high in authority did all they could to discountenance 
it, in others it was not known that such a thing was contemplated, in 
others the conductors of the election did not see fit to trouble them- 
selves with the matter, and no one else conveniently could, at many 
precincts where numbers of votes were cast for emancipation they 
were not returned through neglect," so that under the circumstances> 
the aggregate of 6,052 to 610— to to r, is fully as large as could be 
reasonably expected. The vote for the Constitution itself was a 
meagre one — 16,981 to 441, but the proportions in the different 
counties correspond sufficiently to indicate what would have been the 
result, had there been a full and regularly takeir poll: 

The vote will undoubtedly have a decided influence in' Congress, 
though we do not think it will influence the majority in' that body to 
vote for the. admission of the new State with the Constitution as 
adopted. It will, however, lead to the adoption of a free State 
clause, pure and simple, in the Constitution, should the Convention 
again assemble, and will be regarded by the Legislature, which meets 
on the 6th, in the light of instruction as to its course in the matter. — 
It will also satisfy Eastern Virginia, th'at if the State maintains its in- 
tegrity, slavery is doomed, and probably lead them to reflect whether 
the prospect of its perpetuity after the war is over, will justify a lon- 
ger continuance of a hopeless struggle." 



From the Wheeling "Ai'teiligerncer, April' 28, 1862", 
"THE POSITION OF THE NEW STATE QUESTION. 
We print this morning a communication signed by many citizens of 
Marshal *County, which is chiefly interesting, as showing the temper 
of the public mind on the question of a free State in West Virginia. 



*This was one of the" printed Instructions signed by 108 of Marshal's best riien. 



97 



Practically, the document can avail nothing with those to whom it is 
addressed, viz : the delegates from that County in the Legislature. 
The Legislature will assemble in this city on the 6th of May coming, 
and their sole and only business can be, when they get here, to as- 
sent or dissent to a division. That body can have nothing to do with 
the Constitution or any of its provisions or shortcomings, further 
than the Constitution bears upon the merits and demerits of the di- 
vision question. The Legislature that meets will be the Legislature 
of the whole State of Virginia, and it is called simply in pursuance 
of that article of the Constitution of the United States, which re- 
quires the consent of the Legislature of any State previous to a new 
State being formed out of such State. 

It is a mistake, therefore, tcv suppose that the omission of the Con- 
vention — the great and serious omission which that body made, when 
it refused to submit the free State clause to a vote of the people — 
can be remedied by any power short of that Convention, or one sim- 
ilarly constituted. The Constitution as it is, without addition or sub- 
straction, must go to Congress, and' it will be for that body to say 
whether or no they, will take, the will of the people of West Virginia 
as informally expressed at the recent election, for. the deed, and in 
consideration of it, receive the new State into the L^nion. . 

This is the way the whole question now stands, and we are sorry 
for it. We did our best to forwarn all whom it could concern, of 
the predicament in which we now find ourselves. We affirmed what 
has overwhelmingly proved true, that the new State people of West 
Virginia were a free State people ; that they meant a free State when 
they voted for a division, and that nothing short of a free State 
would ever satisfy them, because nothing else would be of any use to 
them. But we had all sorts of higher and lower influence to fight on 
this belief, and in an evil hour our free State members of the Con- 
vention suffered themselves to be drawn into a blind that completely 
overslaughed the whole effort. 

The only thing that remains for us now to do, is to seek an admit- 
tance from Congress as we stand. We are not entirely without hope 
that something can be done in that direction. The prospects are not 
flattering, but we trust that the temper of debate in the Legislature 
will be such, when it comes together, as to brighten them. Much at 
this crisis in our affairs will depend on the way in which that body 
acts with reference to the free State question. The members have it 
N 



98 



in their power to rivet the good effects which the vote of the people 
has undoubtedly produced on Congress and the loyal States, and 
they also have it in their power to neutralize that effect by a resurrec- 
tion in debate of all the old stale pro-slavery cant that was used by 
such anti-new State and anti-free State people as the Wheeling Press 
before the recent election. 

We hope for the best from the meeting of the Legislature. We 
hope for a short session and a harmonious one. Brevity and unan- 
imity are what are wanted. Let us go to Congress with all the pro- 
pitiating influence we can. We will need it all." 



The question wssy how to use this informal expression of 
the popular will, so as to satisfy Congress, The Legislature of the 
re-organized Government of Virginia vjsas- summoned by the Governor 
to meet the 6th of May, in extra session,, to give, or withhold its con- 
sent to the proposed Constitution. The Mends proposed, in view of 
the recent popular expression, to ask the Legislature that was person- 
ally cognizant of this informal vote, while Congress was not — to give 
its consent, if given, upon the condition, the people should subse- 
quently accept a gradual emancipation clause,, substantially, as Con- 
gress afterwards did y and that body would follow^ It was feared the 
Legislature might be as chary and timid on the subject, as the Con- 
vention had proved, if not more so ; and known, the opposition was 
everywhere on the alert. Still r we ventured to make the effort, and I 
wrote and published the following articles ii& the Wheeling papers, 
giving our views, and answering objections raised by the opposition. 

[Letter to the Intelligencer.] 
WHAT THE PEOPLE OF WEST VIRGINIA WISH AND 
EXPECT THEIR REPRESENTATIVE SERVANTS, COM- 
POSING THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, TO DO WHEN THE 
GOVERNOR SHALL CONVENE THEM— VIZ : PASS, IN 
SUBSTANCE, THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTIONS : 
W hereas, It has long been the desire of the people inhabiting the 
portion of the State lying west of the Alleghany mountains to erect 
themselves into a separate State, and on the 20th of August last a 



99 



Convention of the people of Virginia assembled at the city of Wheel- 
ing, assented to a separation upon the terms and conditions set forth in 
an ordinance passed on that da} 7 , and authorized a Convention to be 
called for the purpose of framing a Constitution for the proposed new 
State, which has been done, and the Constitution having been appro- 
ved by a majority of the people voting thereon, is now submitted to 
this body for its consent and approval, agreeably to the Federal Con- 
stitution and the provisions of said ordinance. But, it having now 
become apparent that it is the unanimous desire of the loyal people 
of the proposed new State that a clause for the gradual extinction of 
slavery within its boundaries shall be incorporated, and also that the 
Congress of the United States will not consent to a division and ad- 
mission of the proposed State unless the Constitution contains some 
provision for the gradual and certain extinction of slavery within its 
boundaries, and that without such provision an object so dear to our 
cis-Alleghany people and beneficial to all, must fail — this body, rep- 
resenting the loyal people of Virginia, desire to consult and promote 
the best interests of every section — Therefore, 

Resolved, That the consent of the General Assembly be given to 
the division proposed, upon the condition that the following provision 
be made a part of the Constitution (which it shall .become as soon as 
ratified by a majority of the qualified voters in the proposed State that 
shall vote thereon), viz : 

"All children born of slave mothers in this State, after the Constitu- 
tion shall go into operation, shall be free, males at the age of 28 years 
and females at the age of 18 years, and the children of such females 
to be free at birth." 

2. Resvlmedv That a copy of these resolmtions, with the Constitution, 
be forthwith transmitted to the Congress of the United States, with 
the request that that body giv£ its consent to proposed division, and 
admit the new State ufian the terms and conditions above stated* 

3. Resolved, That as soon as Congress shall so consent and admit 
the proposed State, it shall be the duty of the Governor to appoint a 
day and make suitable provisions for taking the vote of the qualified 
voters of the proposed State upon the question — the cost thereof to 
be charged to the new State. 

I said in a former communication, that the nigger fogy leaders in- 
tended to wreck the new State project upon a failure to harmonize 
the views of our people with the views of Congress upon the subject 



ioo 



of slavery. These fogy leaders have always, in their hedfft, opposed, 
a new State. They opposed it at the commencement, when Mr. Car- 
Lisle and a few other bold men pushed through the ordinance of the 
20th of August last, against an opposing host of these old fogies, who 
then were openly opposed to the new State. These then looked for- 
ward to a time when the Wheeling Government should be recognized 
over the entire State, and they (Wise, Hunter, Mason & Co. being 
crushed out by the Federal power) would enter Richmond as. the 
leaders of the entire State. This is what they desire now. But as 
soon as they found a large and earnest majority of the people were 
for a new State, what were they to do ? openly oppose ? Certainly 
not ; for by so doing they would go under. They meant to do just 
what they are now attempting to do, viz : Profess and pretend to be 
for the new State, and by such false pretences retain the confidence 
of the people and the leadership of the measure, until they should be 
able to wreck the whole project upon the breaker I have before men- 
tioned. If they really desired a new State, why did they contend in 
the Convention for taking in the whole Valley, with 60,000 slaves, 
■with which Congress could never have been reconciled ? Why refuse 
to submit the gradual emancipation clause to the decision of the peo- 
ple ? Why combine their whole efforts and go wandering about the 
State, to prevent the people expressing their wishes in regard to the 
gradual emancipation clause ? Why were James H. Brown and 
John Laidly, while holding Courts in Wayne and Cabell Counties, 
all the time warning the people against having anything to do with 
the subject — reiterating anew what every sane man knows to be false 
■ — that such an expression was unnecessary to secure admission by 
Congress ? Why should John Hall, President of the Wheeling 
Convention, visit Ceredo during that Court, and hold consultation 
with Brown and Laidly ? Why should James H. Brown advise 
Col. Lightburn to suppress all expression in his Regiment on th© 
subject ? Why did Colonel Lightburn withhold the instructions from 
the legal voters under his military charge on the day of election, when 
the Colonel had been furnished, two weeks previous, with a printed 
instruction and letter explaining the necessity of taking the sense of 
the people on the question ? Why did James H. Brown advise the 
people of Barboursville that it would do much hurt and that it Was 
only a scheme of ambitious demagogues ? Why did John Laidly 
come before the Commissioners while holding the election at Guyari- 
dotte, pale and shaking with rage, while the people were voting in fa- 



iul 



Vor of the clause, and declare the instruction to be unauthorized and 
improper, and use all the means in his power to suppress their ex- 
pression on the subject ? All these things I stand ready to prove by- 
unimpeachable witnesses. Was it the fear on their part that the ex- 
pression of the people would be adverse to gradual emancipation, and 
so injure our case before Congress ? Or was it exactly the reverse ? 
Why was it that wherever any of these old fogies lived or exercised 
their influence the people had no chance to express their minds on 
the subject; while at every point throughout the entire State, where 
the people had a chance to express their minds, their votes were 
nearly or quite as unanimous for gradual emancipation as for the Con- 
stituton. Look at Mason, Kanawha, Wood and their other nestling 
places : Jackson, Roane, Wayne, and other counties that come within 
their benumbing influence. 

But the election has demonstrated two great facts which now stand 
Out as clear and prominent as the cloudless sun at noon day, viz : that 
nine-tenths of the loyal people desire gradual emancipation and the 
new State ; and 2nd, that these nigger fogy leaders don't mean to let 
them have either, but mean to wreck the whole project by keeping the 
Constitution in such shape that Congress will not approve it. 

How vain and shallow their efforts ! for the thunder tones in which 
the people have spoken at all their various points throughout the 
State where they had a chance, affords conclusive evidence that all 
the loyal people of the State are of the same mind and will so express 
themselves as soon as removed from under the shadow of the raven 
wings of the fogy leaders ; and at the same time they have unmasked 
themselves and revealed their nefarious purposes, viz : to place the 
neck of West Virginia again under the yoke of a slave oligarchy. 

They know that if the Constitution goes to Congress as it is, it will 
be rejected, and the Convention will have to be called together again 
for the purpose of inserting the Gradual Emancipation clause ; then 
it will have to be again submitted to the people, agreeably to the 6th 
section of the ordinance of the 20th of August last; and then again 
laid before the Legislature, which will have to be again convened for 
the purpose ; and before all this can be accomplished, Congress will 
certainly have adjourned without having acted upon the subject, ex" 
cept to reject it in the first instance. Congress and the Virginia 
Legislature will convene again on the first Monday of December next. 
In that Legislature the whole of East Virginia will probably be represent- 
ed, and all the plagues that we^e heaped upon Pharoah will not make 



102 



them let West Virginia go. And if a previous Legislature shall have 
consented, (Congress not having approved,) this new Legislature will 
have the power, and the will too, to repeal and annul such consent. 
And the new State will be forever lost, (except the ordinance of 
the 20th of August, and the unanimous ratification by the people, 
with the action of Congress, can still save it.) I stand ready to prove, 
by unimpeachable witnesses, that these leaders have admitted that 
they do not expect nor believe that Congress will admit the new 
State for the present, and I have shown what must be the inevitable 
consequences. 

Now the way I propose to obviate all the difficulties and secure the 
new State, is for the Governor to convene the present Legislature at 
once ; let that Legislature give its consent, with the condition that 
the gradual emancipation clause shall become a part of the Constitu- 
tion,, as soon as ratified by the people ; let Congress, at its present 
.•session, give its consent and admit the new State, on the same condi- 
tion, and the people ratify afterwards. As soon as Congress shall 
give its consent, (though with the condition,) it places the subject be- 
yond the repealing power of any subsequent unfriendly State Legis- 
lature. 

The 3rd Section of the 4th Article, Federal Constitution, requires 
the consent of the Legislature. The conditional consent, I propose, 
answers this requirement ; and if any of the fogy leaders deny it, I 
challenge their reasons. 

What, then, do these leaders really desire ? To procure the admis- 
sion of the new State into the Union, under the guise of a lamb, when 
they really believe it to be a wolf— a free State people, when they be- 
lieve it to be a slave State, and that, if permitted to speak, the people 
will so declare themselves ? This would imply a fraud on the part of 
the leaders. Do they believe it will throw the people into a tempest 
of excitement, as they contended in the Convention it would ; or is 
their real motive what many have admitted it to be in their declara- 
tion, "that they do not expect or believe Congress will admit the new 
State for the present ?" No new State, if they can prevent it, is their 
real purpose^ 

The valuation of the real estate in the proposed new State is about 
ninety million dollars. All admit that the erection of the new State 
will double its value. Do the fogy leaders suppose the future increase 
pi 2,000 slaves is to be permitted to stand in the way of a gain of 



103 



ninety million dollars to the landholders, especially after the Federal 
Government has offered to pay the loyal owners of the slaves, and the 
enhancement of their oivn lands will indemnify a hundred fold for 
every possible loss. 

While representing the largest tax-paying real estate in the propos- 
ed new State, I, for one, answer never ! and I say to my fellow-land- 
holders throughout the proposed State that if we succumb, the Federal 
Government ought to look upon us as incapable of self-government, 
and ought at once to establish a Provisional government over West 
Virginia; and take care of a people who have shown an entire inability 
to take care of themselves. 

I dislike to be personal, or say anything to injure the feelings of 
individuals, but the present occasion, and the necessity of unmasking 
individuals who are laboring to crush out the last and only hope for 
the loyal people of West Virginia, demand it. 

G. PARKER. 

Guyandotte, April ii, 1862* 



[Letter to the Intelligencer, April 26th, 1862.] 
THE NEW STATE— AND NEXT STEP TO BE TAKEN. 

It is now clear that a large majority of the votes east upon the 
Constitution question, within the forty-four counties, is in favor of its* 
adoption. 

Section 5th of the Schedule make-s it the duty of the officers con- 
ducting the election in any precinct "to ascertain as early as practica- 
ble after the election, the vote in their respective precincts, and cer- 
tify and return the same, as soon as practicable,, to the persons con- 
ducting the election, at the Court House precincts, who shall ascer- 
tain and certify the result to the ComimissioneFS appointed by the 
Convention. " This, I presume, has all been done before this time. 

The next step to be taken, then, is for these Commissioners to as- 
certain the aggregate vote, and if a majority be found to be in favor 
©f the Constitution, to certify the result to the Governor, and request 
him to convene the Legislature, and lay the result before that body 
for its consent.. 



104 



The 8th Section of the Schedule reads thus : 

"The Commissioners hereby appointed shall take such steps, and 
do all such things as they shall deem expedient to procure, as soon 
as possible, the consent of the General Assembly and Congress to 
the formation and erection of the State of West Virginia. " 

In view of the manifest meaning and spirit of this clause, no one 
can doubt what the duty of these Commissioners requires them to do 
in order to make safe the new State. How will some members of this 
Commission reconcile with this clause their efforts to suppress the 
voice of the people upon the gradual emancipation question at the 
late election ? Did they really believe that such a course would se- 
cure the most speedy success of the new State ? If they did, they 
certainly differ from nearly everybody else. 

There is nothing contained in the 4th Section of the Schedule that 
will justify further delay on their part, whatever their private inclina- 
tions may be. 

Our Governor will need no other suggestion on this subject, but to 
rely upon himself in this and other matters, and not upon the advice 
of interested demagogues, civil or military. He must comprehend 
the necessity for speedy action on the subject, (as everything — he and 
all, that will, must ^—depends upon securing the favorable action 
of Congress at the present session ;) and that his friends, for the pres- 
ent at least, are Cis-Alleghanians and new State men. 

I perceive the papers, and yours among the rest, seem to think that 
the very unanimous vote of the people in favor' of the gradual eman- 
cipation clause (wherever they were permitted to speak at the last 
election ) is all that will be required to insure a speedy admission by 
Congress. Never was there a greater mistake. Congress will never 
trust a people (one half of whom are rebels, open or covert) that have 
shown themselves so liable to be duped and misrepresented on the 
subject of slavery, as our people were in the choice of delegates to 
the late Convention. The total want of confidence in, and respect 
for, the intelligence and wishes of their constituents, manifested by 
such membeis as opposed the reference of the gradual emancipation 
clause to the decision of their masters, the people, Congress will not 
overlook or ignore. They will naturally and properly infer that the 
same people will sutler themselves to be duped and misrepresented 
on this question in future, by the negro fogy leaders, and thereby the 
element of slavery will be made perpetual in the new State, and pro- 
slavery Senators represent it in Congress. 



105 



Nothing short of the incorporation of the gradual emancipation 
clause by the Legislature in the Constitution itself— either absolutely 
or upon condition that the people shall ratify afterwards, will secure 
for the new State a hearing before Congress. Let us not be lulled or 
deceived, but keep our eyes constantly on the straight and narrow 
path which can alone lead our new State into the Federal Union, viz : 
instruct our servants in the Legislature when it shall convene, to give 
its consent on condition that the gradual emancipation clause shall 
become a part of the Constitution as soon as ratified by the people ; 
and Congress will consent and admit at once upon the same condition, 
and the people will ratify after, and the new State will be saved — 
otherwise — lost ! Respectfully, 

G. PARKER. 

P. S. Every Senatorial and Delegate vacancy throughout the new 
State, should be filled at once by the right men, and all our Cis- Alle- 
ghany representatives thoroughly instructed. G. P. 



COL. LIGHTBURN'S LETTER TO THE INTELLIGENCER. 

Ceredo, Va., April 30, 1862. 

Editors Intelligencer : I saw a communication in your paper, a 
short time since, in which one G. Parker has taken the liberty to 
use my name in connection with the late election for the Constitution 
of the new State, known as West Virginia. He seems to charge me 
with suppressing some instructions sent me by him. Now I would 
just say that, so far as instructions upon that question is concerned, 
I was not aware, at that time, neither am I now, that the Convention 
authorized such instructions. I had not been notified by any of the 
officers of the Convention, that such instructions should be obeyed. 
And, furthermore, I conceive it to be no part of my duty, as an officer 
of the army, to dabble with political questions. 

It should be the object of all to use their best endeavors to sup- 
press this rebellion, to restore that peace we once enjoyed as a Na- 
tion. This is an object, to me, paramount to all things else, and as 
far as Mr. Parker is concerned, I have no further notice to take of 
what he has, or what he may say upon that subject. 

I. A. J. LIGHTBURN, 

Col. 4th Va. Vol. Infy., U. S. A. 
O 



106 



[Letter to the Intelligencer.] 

THE VIEWS OF THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT OF 
THE LEGISLATURE TO GIVE A CONDITIONAL COX- 
SENT. 

I would remind the members of the Legislature about to convene, 
and the people, of the resolutions drawn up and presented to the 
Convention on the ioth day of February last. The first resolution 
reads thus : 

"Resolved, as the opinion of this Convention, That, if the Legisla- 
ture of Virginia shall, at its present session, pass an act giving the 
consent of the Legislature to the formation and erection of the pro- 
posed new State within the present jurisdiction of the State of Vir- 
ginia, but suspending the-' operation- of the- said act until the Governor 
of the. said State shall, by proclamation,- declare that the people re- 
siding withim the limits of the proposed new State have adopted the 
Constitution, to be proposed by the Convention in the^manner there- 
in set forth, such consent would, upon the issuing of the said procla- 
mation,. be- to all intents and purposes, the consent of the Legislature 
required by the 3d Section of the Article of the Constitution of the 
United States." 

The Legislature is here asked as it was about adjourning, and ten 
days before the Constitution was finished,- to give its consent to the 
proposed division* but that consent was to have depended upon the- 
happening of the following events. 

Fit st, That the Convention should complete a Constitution to be* 
submitted to the people, and second, that the people should adopt the 
same, and the result of their vote' be proclaimed by the Governor,, 
and still this consent in the sense-of that resolution would be, "to alL 
intents and purposes" such a consent as the Federal Constitution re- 
quires. 

I agree with the resolution that such consent would satisfy the* 
clause in the Federal Constitution, but not the 8th Section of the or- 
dinance of the Convention, passed the 20th of August last, for that 
requires that the result of the people's vote upon the Constitution, if 
in tavor of it, shall be laid before the Legislature, thereby clearly im- 
plying that the Legislature should not act upon the question until the 
people should have expressed their sense upon it. It was for the 



107 



reason that the iresolutioii violated this provision of the ordinance 
that I voted against it ; and for the same reason, if I have been 
rightly informed, the Legislature refused thus prematurely to give its 
consent and not far the reason -that it would not satisfy the letter and 
spirit of the Federal Constitutive. Mr. Ruffner moved an amend- 
ment which was agreed to, not affecting however, the substance of 
Jhe resolution, and it the a passed the Convention by a vote of 39 to 
7, the .following named members voting in its favor: 

John Hall, (President,) Brown, of Preston ; Brumfield, Bat- 
telle, Caldwell, Carskad@n, C@®k, Bering, Dilley, Dolly, 
Haxsley*, Hall-, of Marion ; Haymond, Hubbs, Hervey, Hager, 
Hobacki, Irving, Lamb, Lauck, Mahgn, O'Brien, Parsons, Pow- 
ell, Pomr®y, Ruffner, Ryan, Sinsil, Simm@ns, Stevenson, of 
Wood ; Stewart, of Wirt ; Stuart, of Doddridge ; Sheets, Soper, 
Smiih, Taylor, Van Winkle, Warden, Wilson. 

Now the members of the Convention, who voted in favor of this 
resolution, will not, I trust, object to the Legislature now having the 
right under the Federal Cdftsiitution to give fits consent on the terms 
now proposed, which is, in substance, simply this.; For the Legisla- 
ture to give its consent — to take effect as soon as the qualified voters 
of the proposed State, shall, by their ratification, make the gradual 
emancipation clause (as proposed and defined,,) a part of the Consti- 
tution. Congress will, at once, endorse the same, as it secures, with 
mathematical certainty, a free State. If the people afterwards com- 
ply wktt the condition and ratify the clause (to be submitted as the 
Governor shall provide) the new State becomes to all intents and 
purposes formed and erected and a member of the Federal Union. 
But if the people shall fail to add the clause to their Constitution by 
ratifying the same then the consent both of the Legislature and of 
Congress goes for nothing and the State of Virginia remains unchang- 
ed, except the ruins of rebellion in the East, and the disgrace of a 
most stupendous farce played out in the West, 

None of the objections exist now to the Legislature's adopting the 
course proposed, which existed last Winter. Then the character and 
nature of the Constitution to be assented to were in a great measure 
unknown, as the instrument had not been completed or published, 
except by piece meals in the Daily Press, and that still subject to 
revision by the Convention. 

Now the instrument with the proposed addition is definite, certain, 



108 



incapable of future change and understood by all. The Legislature^ 
now sees exactly what it has to consent to, and what is the earnest 
and express desire of the people to have done in the premises. For 
the people have spoken as emphatically in favor of the additional 
clause as of the Constitution. They want the two combined. The 
Legislature was urged to act thus prematurely last winter, for the sake 
of avoiding the expense of having to be convened over again. The 
same body is now urged to act upon a full knowledge and under- 
standing of the whole matter, including the wish of the people, the 
President and Congress, so emphatically expressed, for the sake of 
avoiding the expense of convening both the Convention and Legisla* 
ture again, the total loss of the new State, and the immense amount 
of time, labor and money which have been expended about it. 

G. PARKER, 

Guyandotte, May i st, i 86 2. 



[Letter to the Intelligencer, May J, 1862.] 
HOW CAN THE NEW STATE BE SAVED ?— A CONDI- 
TIONAL CONSENT BY THE LEGISLATURE PROPOSED, 

I had supposed no friend of the new State could of 
Would question the right of the Legislature to give its consent 
conditionally, however he might view the exercise of that right at this 
time, until I read the remarks in your paper of Monday. That the 
fogy leaders would covertly start all sorts of objections, hobgoblins, 
and "chimeras dire," to frighten weak-kneed legislators as they had 
done weak-kneed delegates in the Convention, none of us doubted. 
But when a paper as respectable and influential as yours intimates a 
doubt, it demands a seasonable and candid reply. 

I propose to consider, 1st, the question of right, and 2d, the exped- 
iency of the Legislature exercising that right at this time. 

Section 3d, article 4 of the Constitution of the United States, reads 
thus : "New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Un- 
ion ; but no new State shall be formed by the junction of one or more 
States or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the 
States concerned, as well as of the Congress." The ordinance passed 
the 20th of August, by the people of the whole State, assembled in 



their sovereign capacity in Convention at Wheeling by their delegates, 
made the division and fixed the boundaries, which the people of the 
proposed new State ratified, the 24th day of October, by a vote of 
18,408 for, and 781 against. This ordinance presented no prerequis- 
ites, supplemental to the before mentioned clause of the Federal 
Constitution, except that the new Constitution and the vote of the 
people thereon, should be laid before the Legislature at the time its 
consent was asked, in conformity to the Federal Constitution. 

The before quoted clause of this Constitution is all we have to look 
to. What then is the meaning of this clause in relation to erecting 
new States out of old ones. At the time the Federal Constitution 
was formed, the Union consisted of thirteen States, Virginia being the 
oldest. Each of these States had its State-government, its boundaries 
defined, and each to be entitled to two Senators in the U. S. Senate ; 
and Congress was clothed with the power of districting each State for 
representatives to the United States House of Representatives, and 
apportioning the same. It was manifest that the rights of the Federal 
Government required that no more new States should be erected out 
of the original thirteen without the consent of Congress. Hence to 
this body, as the faithful guardian of the rights of all the States, was 
confided the power to give or withhold its consent to the formation of 
any new State out of old ones. It has the perfect right to give or 
withhold its consent ; to give it absolutely or conditionally, as the pe- 
culiar circumstances or merits of each case, and what in its judgment 
the best interests of all who are under its guardian care, may re- 
quire. To deny this body the right to annex a condition to its consent 
which the true interests of all require, would be inconsistent with the 
general terms used in the clause and the duties devolved thereby on 
that body. 

The same is true in regard to the State Legislature, within the 
boundaries of the State proposed to be changed. The same word 
•"consent," in the clause, is applied to both the State and Federal 
Legislatures. The State Legislature is the guardian of the entire 
State. It should give, withhold, or modify its consent, just as the best 
interests of the whole State should seem in each case to require. To 
restrict the State Legislature in the exercise of its discretion to a sim- 
ple absolute giving or withholding of its consent, would therefore do 
violence to the general terms used, and be incompatible with the 
faithful exercise of the powers granted and the high duties to be per- 
formed. 



110 

* 

This brings us to the second question. Will the case West Virginia 
presents to the Legislature., justify its giving the conditional consent as 
proposed 1 ? It seems to me very clear that it does ; because survey- 
ing from its high position the whole State, it must come to the con- 
clusion that the new State merits, and is justly entitled to, all she 
asks, and that the East has no .claim whatever to drag her down into 
the gulf of bankruptcy and rum, its own treason and wickedness has 
voluntarily &nd against every warning dug for itself. To deny it 
would surpass the inhumanity of that custom which binds indissolubly 
the Hying Hindoo widow to the loathsome and putrid corpse of her 
deceased husband, to languish and die. The figure is not too strong. 

"But," say my friends, "there is a more formal and better looking 
course to pursue, which will as well or better secure the new State." 
I deny it, and defy any one to point out any other course, that can 
possibly secure success. As for the farm, or looks, these all sensible 
men disregard in times like the present, \i the substance canke seemed. 
That substance with the people of West Virginia is the new State ; 
and with Congress it will be a mathematical certainty that slavery shall 
at some future day become extinct in West Virginia. Congress, sur- 
rounded as it has been during the past year with startling facts and 
stern realities, will not heed the form or mode in which the mathemat- 
ical certainty is produced^whether inserted absolutely in the Consti- 
tution, or secured as Mr. Battelle proposed, by submitting by a 
separate poll to the people (which was the wisest and best way to 
Jiave done,) only the Legislature and Congress making their consent 
to depend on the people ratifying the clause afterwards. I say the 
only thing Congress will look at will be the fact that that mathe?natical 
Certainty is there. 

But my friend thinks if our special commissioners take the Consti- 
tution as it is with the mere absolute consent of the Legislature in one 
hand and the informal vote of a portion of our people on the free 
$tate question in the other, and present them to Congress, it will con- 
sent and admit. Never ! For this reason : the mathematical cer- 
tainty is wanting, and the natural inference to be drawn from the facts 
would be, either that the people did not want it, or else they did not 
have the power and spirit to obtain it against the scheming and man- 
agement of their fogy leaders. Else why has the question been before 
the people, the Convention and our own Legislature, and all the 
progress the people have made toward the mathematical certainty is 
the informal vote ? This is the way it will be looked at by Congress, 



Ill 



With such a show, can any one hope that the present Congress 
(which was elected while standing on the Chicago platform and be- 
cause they stood there,) will consent to place on the journal a consent 
to make two slave States out of one — four slave Senators in place of 
two — and record a precedent to justify any other slave State cutting' 
itself into ten (instead of two) slave States and thereby increasing its' 
slave power in the Senate ten fold. When we talk to them about 
what we are going to do and be in future, they will remind us of what" 
we are. They will point us to Delaware which during the last forty" 
years has had a less remnant of slavery than we have, and to 1 the 
power that controls its Legislature and abortive attempt by that body- 
to institute a gradual extinction last winter. They will point to 
Saulsbury and Bayard, as samples of the Senators, and to the pres- 
ent Senators of Virginia elected solely by our people. Besides, is it 
to be supposed for a moment, that Messrs. Hall and Van Win-kle- 
of the present commission, who are opposed to a new State in any- 
form for the present at least, will ever make such a presentation ? And ; 
what can Messrs. Paxton and Caldwell — however willing and able J 
do in such a predicament ? Nothing. 

But I need not pursue this further. It is not only morally but 
mathematically certain that Congress will reject. What then ? Why 
the Convention will have to be convened and as mere draftsmen, for 
its members are nothing more — from 50 to 60 — in order to append 
the gradual- emancipation clause. This will take at least a month- 
after the- rejection by Congress, and cost thousands of dollars. It- 
will then- have to go before the people, which will take another month 1 
and cost thousands more.- Then the Legislature will have to be con- 
vened (as all the parties must consent to the alteration) which will- 
take another month and cost thousands more ; and by. this time Con- 
gress will certainly have adjourned not to meet again till the first- 
Monday of December next. The same day the new Legislature will 
convene, with representatives from nearly all the counties in the East- 
This Legislature will at once repeal and revoke the consent given by- 
the present Legislature. What then-? Why our fogy leaders wilt 
proceed in triumph to Richmond, carrying poor crushed and ruined- 
Western Virginia, as the trophy of their labor, expecting to receive 
the benediction from counterfeit loyalty in that section, of "well done- 
good and faithful servants," &c. This is no fancy sketch, it is the 
reality that awaits us if we take that course. But if we can get the 
oonse-nt of Congress to the division and admission, at its present ses- 



112 



sion, subject to the condition that the people shall ratify the clause 
afterwards — the whole subject is at once placed beyond the reach of 
any unfriendly Legislature, because another party has become inter- 
ested. But my friends say, it will be improper for the Legislature to 
take the initiatory step by giving its consent, subject to the condition 
proposed, because that body has no power to add to the instrument. 
I aver that the people have the unquestionable right to appoint any 
body of men, or individuals they choose, to be their draftsmen. The 
wish and approval of the people is the only thing that can give vital- 
ity. The members of the Legislature now know what the desire of 
the people is, and that it is the wish of nine-tenths to have the clause 
inserted. Congress does not know this fact, and if the Legislature 
immediately representing our people shall take the initiatory step, 
Congress will at once follow. And to say that Congress will be im- 
properly dictatory by so doing, in thus securing that "mathematical 
certainty" which can alone justify and which will go on the journal 
with its consent, is too absurd to merit notice. The consent of neither 
Legislature nor Congress is absolute until the people, the life giving 
party, shall have ratified. Nor does the Legislature or Congress make 
any addition to the Constitution, though either would be competent to 
do so if properly authorized by the people. 

These simply give a consent, which they have the right to give, or 
withhold, at discretion, upon the condition that the people themselves 
shall make a certain specified addition afterwards, which nine-tenths 
of these very people have already declared they desire to have added. 

I fear I have already extended my remarks too far. I hope I have 
made myself intelligible to all minds. My heart, yea, my whole being 
is filled with the importance and magnitude of the subject, as relates 
to the present and future of West Virginia, and if her loyal people, 
through a want of manly spirit and heart, let her sink into the gulf of 
ruin her enemies have opened and seem eager to plunge her, I shall 
have the consolation of having used my feeble efforts to save her. 
The people should instruct in every County, and if need be, come up 
to Wheeling in grand mass meeting, and thunder at the door of the 
Capital. Respectfully, 

G. PARKER. 

P. S. I need not remind my fellow-citizens that every argument 
used by the fogy leaders, the past winter, on this question, has been 
refuted by actual facts. They contended that the Government at 



/ 



113 



Washington desired that the question of slavery should be' tgnorcd by 

the Convention. The Message of the President, the 6th of March,- 

and action of Congress upon it, proved the exact reverse to have 

been true. They contended that a majority of our people desired the 

question to be ignored, and that it was unsafe to trust the people with 

the subject in these exciting times* The vote on the 3rd of April has 

demonstrated both propositions to be false. What confidence can we 

put in the judgment or honesty of such men ? 

One thing more, be sure to make every candidate for any office at 

the May election define his position on the new and ffee State ques-^ 

tion, and have that definition in writing before you give him your vote* 

By this means we shall secure for our Cis-Alleghany people a new 

and free State representation in the Legislature that convenes the 4th 

of December next, and in the executive department also; by this 

means too, we shall unmask counterfeits and teach them that there is 

to be no more false pretences, or sailing under false colors in Western 

Virginia, and that the sentiments of every loyal citizen is what Homer 

ascribed to one of his heroes, viz : 

"Who dares think one thing and another tell, 
My soul detests him as the gates of fldl/ 1 

G. P, 



[Letter to the Intelligencer.] 
SOME AUTHORITIES FOR GIVING A CONDTIONAL CON- 
SENT BY CONGRESS AND THE LEGISLATURE. 

It will be observed that the same word "consent" is used in section 
3d, 4th Article of the Federal Constitution (and used but once) to 
prescribe the powers of both Congress and the State Legislature in 
relation to erecting a new State out of an old one. Any interpreta- 
tion, therefore, which Congress has given of the true import and 
meaning of this word in this connection is direct authority as well for 
State as subsequent national Legislatures, and its relative weight 
would be as the weight of the nation when compared with a single 
State. The section reads thus : ''New States may be admitted by 
the Congress into this Union ; but no new State shall be formed by 
the junction of one or more States or parts of States without the com 
Sent of the Leg.is4afc$r&s eoneerned an-df of the Congress.'' 



114 



If the Congress, by virtue of this clause, has the power to give its 
consent conditionally to the erection and admission of any new State, 
it has the power to give the like consent to the admission of all, 
where its discretion dictates, whether formed of Federal territory or 
the territory of an existing State. 

Congress gave its consent to the erection and admission of Mis- 
souri, March 2d, 182 1, 011 co?idition its Legislature should thereafter 
consent to the "Compromise measure" proposed by Congress. Its 
Legislature having afterwards consented and complied with the con- 
dition annexed, its formation and admission became complete and 
perfect, August 10th, 1821, upon the announcement of the facts by 
proclamation, as the act of Congress provided,, and without further 
action by Congress. Volume 3, page 797, Statutes at Large. 

Congress consented to the erection and admission of Michigan up- 
on the express condition that the State should thereafter consent to 
certain boundaries prescribed by Congress ; and the State having af- 
terwards- assented and complied- with the condition its erection and 
admission became thereby complete. lb. Volume 5, page 49. 

Wisconsin was erected and admitted into the Union on condition 
her qualified voters should thereafter consent to a boundary propos- 
ed by Congress, Her qualified voters having, thereafter complied 
with the condition the erection and admission of the State became 
thereby perfected. Volume 9, page 233, lb. 

So with lozw, Congress consented to its erection and admission 
on condition its qualified voters should afterwards consent to a certain 
proposition submitted by Congress ; which having been complied 
with, she became a. member of the Union. Volume 9,, page 177, lb. 
So Congress annexed conditions to the erection and admission of 
Kansas. These repeated enactments during the last forty years by 
Congress have established an interpretation of the section, and the 
word "consent," which no declaration however boisterous, nor rant 
and denunciation however bitter, can change, 

Kentucky, Maine and Vermont were the only States, I think, that 
have been created out of the existing territory of other States ; and 
in the case of Kentucky, Maine and Vermont also, if I remember 
rightly, the Legislatures of the mother States annexed conditions, 
both precedent and subsequent, to their consent. In nearly or quite 
all the cessions of territory made, by any of the original thirteen 
States since the Revolution the grantors annexed conditions. The 



115 



Legislature of Virginia annexed among others the condition of Free- 
dom to the cession of the Northwest Territory. North Carolina an- 
nexed conditions of another character when she ceded Tennessee ; 
and so with Georgia and other States, 

A majority of our present Legislature, however, seem to think it 
incompatible with their duties, while representing the whole State, to 
annex any condition to the consent they shall give to the erection of 
West Virginia; and some few because it would be altering the Consti- 
tution, which the people of the new State framed and adopted ! The 
anind that can confound, or view as identical, propositions so to- 
tally unlike, I have no desire to say anything about; while I admit 
the propriety and expediency of annexing the condition to their con- 
sent, at this time, may be considered a debateable question. And if 
the Legislature shall feel themselves constrained to decide adversely 
to annexing the condition proposed, on account of an appearance of 
improper suggestion or dictation it may give (though the very thing 
be desired by a large majority of our people), I sincerely hope, and 
I know it is the wish of the people, that the Legislature shall so 
frame their consent to the division as to permit the people immediate- 
ly interested to modify their Constitution as they may desire, or as 
they may find necessary to secure the admission of the new State by 
Congress, without having to resort again to the Legislature. This 
course I believe the Legislature will feel themselves justified in adopt- 
ing, as it will relieve that body of further trouble about the matter, 
and the people of expense. 

For the uniform good will, frequent and important aid the Legisla- 
ture and Executive officers of Virginia have shown to the people of 
the New State, during tli^ir long and arduous efforts, I know I utter 
the sentiment of our people, no less than my own, when I say we 
are profoundly grateful. And the prompt and almost unanimous 
consent — though unconditional, if it must so be — of the Legislature 
to the proposed division is calculated to deepen that sentiment. 

Respectfully, 

G. PARKER. 

May toth, 1862. 

P, S. — When the recipient <®f Divine grace can rightfully ascribe 
dictation or improper interference to the Power that conditions his 
heatt and mind for receiving the precious favor, then will the people 
of West Virginia make similar ascriptions to any power that shall' 



116 

suggest or help in any way to shape her internal structure so as to 
secure the consummation of the new State. Not till then. 

G. P. 



The Legislature convened on the 6th of May, and on the 13th 
passed an Act, giving its consent to the formation of the new State 
absolutely, and without annexing the conditions prayed for. Many 
of the friends were present, and we did what we could, but without 
success. There were some members, however, who had the courage 
to advocate the proposition. Fontain Smith, Joseph Snyder, the 
late Geo. Mc C, Porter, and others of the House of Delegates were 
among them. Our only remaining hope was with Congress, and, to 
say the least, it was anything but cheering. Such a petition, in the 
shape it was, intrusted exclusively to five Commissioners, three of 
whom were against a new State in any form — to be presented to a 
Congress of its political sentiments, at such a crisis ! Still, all its 
friends did not despair, 



LETTER TO THE WHEELING DAILY PRESS, MAY 15, 1862. 

Permit me through your valuable paper to say a few words in re- 
ply to the remarks in yesterday morning's paper headed "False 
Premises." 

Your error seems to me to consist in an entire misconception of the 
legal status or relation of the segregating portion— after the Legisla- 
ture of the Mother State has. given its consent to the division, fixed 
the boundaries and laid down such fundamental provisions as is 
deemed just to the whole State, which such Legislature represents. 
Subject to these, the people proposing to leave are as free and inde- 
pendent to construct a Constitution as they please — make the best 
terms they can to obtain the consent of the other party — viz : Con- 
gress — to the division and admission to the Union ; and to make and 
receive propositions to and from the party they are negotiating with ; 
and if Congress shall consent to the division and admission, all former 
relations with the Mother State cease. But if they fail to consummate 
they remain as before. This seems to me to be the true status and 
relation, after the Legislature has consented to the division, fixed the 



117 

boundaries and prescribed the fundamentals of the division ; and I 
am unable to see how their relations to Congress, so far as negotiating 
for its consent to the division and admission is concerned, can mate- 
rially vary from the residents of Federal territory. There is a "re- 
publican" necessity that both should be equally free and untrammeled 
in this respect, for in both cases the people are negotiating a matter 
peculiarly their own, and in the former case the Mother State certain- 
ly can have no concern. Respectfully, 

G. PARKER. 

P. S. My object and purpose from the beginning, has been to 
get a new State, and to use all legitimate and honorable means to 

secure it 



[Letter to the Wheeling Intelligencer, May 17TH, 1862.] 
THE POSITION OF THE NEW STATE NOW, AND THE 
NEXT STEP TO BE TAKEN. 

The Legislature has given its consent to the division and erection 
of the new State, fixed the boundaries as was deemed right, and left 
the promising daughter free to arrange her household and domestic 
affairs as her best interests may dictate, subject only to the obligation, 
contained in the 8th section of the 8th article of the new Constitu- 
tion : to assume and pay an equitable proportion of the State debt 
prior to the 1st day of January, 1861, and the condition or compact, 
contained in section 1st 9th article of the same Constitution relating 
to the titles of land. Subject to these restrictions the new State is 
left free to make the best terms she can with Congress to secure its 
consent and thereby secure admission to the sisterhood of States. 
Until this happy consummation, however, the mother's care and pro- 
tection will continue, but not her control or restraint to interfere or 
prevent the new State's modifying her Constitution, subject always to 
the limits above stated, to suit the wishes of the people and secure 
the speedy action of Congress. 

Eeing released to this extent from the former power and control of 
the mother, and allotted an outfit of $100,000 if her majority be at- 
tained, the people of the new State are at full liberty to place them- 
selves in immediate communication with Congress and ascertain at 
once on what terms Congress will give its consent to the proposed 



118 



division and admission of the new State. This should be done at 
once. There is not a moment to lose. The Commissioners appoint- 
ed by the Convention are the properly authorized agents of our peo- 
ple for that purpose ; and they should be at Washington as soon as 
the Constitution and action of the Legislature reach there. Our 
prompt and faithful Governor will lose no time in transmitting them, 
and before this, the documents are probably on the way. 

The vote to be taken in the District, comprised of Berkley, Jeffer- 
son and Fredrick, will neither necessitate nor justify delay. The 
consent of Congress can be given subject to that provision and the 
vote taken after as well as before the action of Congress. 

It seems to be now the almost universal desire of our people to 
accept at once the proposition of Congress made in pursuance of the 
President's recommendation the 6th of March last, proposing to pay 
for the slaves owned in any State, that shall adopt a system of gradual 
emancipation. 

Our Commissioners ought at once to arrange with Congress the 
details of a plan, re-convene the Convention, and if satisfactory, that 
body can modify the Constitution so as to conform to the terms 
agreed on by the Commissioners and Congress, and Congress will at 
once give its consent to the division and admission — to take effect 
whenever the people of the new State shall ratify the change so made 
in their Constitution. This will place the subject, for a certainty, be- 
yond the repealing power of any unfriendly Legislature, and our 
people can ratify and consummate the establishment of the new 
State' at any time thereafter, that Congress may determine, the 
country and re-organized government of the mother State shall re- 
quire. Or Congress can give its consent without the further action 
of the Convention, but subject to the people ratifying afterwards the 
terms that shall be agreed on between the Commissioners and 
Congress. 

Either is a practical and feasible course to save the new State, and 
ought to be satisfactory to our people and Congress. And the man 
that raises the cry of dictation or improper interference by Congress 
or other party, -for taking either of the courses indicated, can be re- 
garded in no other light than an enemy to the new State, and conse- 
quently to the best and highest interests of the cis-Alleghany peo- 
ple. But if the Constitution and action of the Legislature are per- 
mitted to go before Congress in the condition they are — without our 



119 



Commissioners opening at once the negotiation with Congress before 
indicated — the subject will either not be acted on at all by that body 
at its present session, or it will be unconditionally rejected. Nothing 
can be more certain. And before Congress shall convene again, an 
unfriendly State Legislature will revoke (if they have the power) the 
consent just given by the State Legislature, and the new State lost 
beyond hope. 

The idea that our loyal friends in the East when they shall become 
represented in the Legislature, will consent to let us go has been al- 
ready demonstrated to be utterly false and delusive. The Delegates 
in the present Legislature representing the loyal people East of the 
Alleghany, though personally liberal and noble minded men, that 
appreciate and acknowledge the merits of the West to all she asks, 
felt themselves nevertheless constrained by the known sense of their 
constituents to vote against the division. No one esteems our loyal 
friends in the East higher than I do, or is more ready to- assist them, 
where it can be done without sacrificing all that is valuable to the 
West. We cannot but remember that, during the last forty years of 
worse than Egyptian oppression to the West by the East, these now 
loyal friends of the East never raised a voice, nor lifted a finger to 
alleviate our grievous burden, and the presumption, nay, the fact is, 
they helped to impose and continue the burden. Let us not be de- 
ceived, therefore, Let us be just to ourselves and to our fellow-citi- 
zens everywhere ; but let us not be deceived further. They will in- 
sist that they love us too much to spare us, and that the co-operatioa 
of the loyal people of the West is indispensable to them, in order to 
control the conquered, but still unconverted traitors of the East. 

When our loyal friends that are incarcerated in the loathsome 
prisons at Richmond, can be rightly blamed for effecting their es- 
cape, when the torch of the traitorous oppressors have burned down 
the doors of the prison, then can the loyal people of West Virginia 
be justly blamed by Congress, or other persons, for cutting loose at 
once and forever. 

There is devolved a very great responsibility upon our Commis- 
sioners in this juncture, which I hope they will fully appreciate and 
meet in a manner that will reflect honor on themselves, and secure 
the approbation and gratitude of the people, whose highest and dear- 
est earthly interests are now in a great measure committed to their 
hands. Respectfully, 

G. PARKER, 



120 



As'showing the feeling of the people of the Valley at this time, I 
insert the following from the Wheeling Intelligencer of the 13th of 
May, 1862 : 



"General Kenton Harper, of Augusta, Virginia, prints in the 
Register 3. call for 

FREE FIGHTERS. 

"People of the Valley : Your homes are threatened with ruthless 
invasion. Wait not until the enemy is upon you, but meet him on 
the threshold. There are thousands of us not subject to a draft, 
who have arms, or who can get arms, and who know how to use 
them. None but the craven can hesitate in such a crisis. Better 
fight the battle on the borders than at your own door. Your families 
will then be secure behind you, and you will be able to put forth all 
your energies. If you delay, the sad fate of our fellow-citizens of 
the lower valley may soon be yours, and will you deserve it for your 
pusillanimity. 

"Let neighborhood meetings be called, then, at once, and see that 
every efficient man and every efficient gun is brought into service. 
None should withhold their arms who are not able to use them, and 
those who cannot endure the march may be organized into mounted 
corps. 

"The service proposed is a brief one, for who can doubt if the 
whole valley would pour forth her whole strength, the insolent invad- 
er could be driven across the Potomac in less than thirty days ? 
Then, shall we sit still and allow ourselves to be paralyzed and sub- 
dued by gradual approaches. 

"I shall be glad to confer with citizens of Augusta and other 
Counties in furtherance of this movement. It interferes with none 
of the arrangements of government. It is simply for the defence of 
our homes and our firesides against a cruel foe, who r under the ab- 
surd pretence of restoring fraternity, marks his- advance with desola- 
tion, outrage and ruin. This is not less our duty than our right. 
We propose to be governed by our own rules — eat our own bread 
and meat, if necessary — and to ask nothing but to be assigned a 
place in the line of battle, KENTON HARPER." 



121 



I admire the pluck of General Kenton Harper, situated as he 
was ; but I cannot think either he, or the sympathizing friends in the 
Valley he addressed, were in a mood to aid us much in getting the 
new State at that time. 

As an illustration of the sentiments of our new State people, this 
side the Alleghanies, I insert the following, which appeared in the 
Intelligencer of May 9th, 1862 : 

"THE NEW STATE. 

"Monongalia Co., Va., May 8, 1862. 

"Being a very humble citizen of Monongalia, I wish to say through 
your paper a few words in relation to our new State organization, to 
the members of our Convention, and also to the members of our 
Legislature now in session, which I hope they will take into serious 
consideration. Now, in the first place, I will tell the members of the 
Convention that they disappointed the hopes and expectations of at 
least three-fourths of the real friends of the new State, by not pro- 
viding for gradual emancipation in the Constitution they made. 
Does any sane man suppose that Congress will make two slave States 
out of one, when we all know that a large majority of Congress and 
about nine-tenths of every body else, believe that slavery is the 
cause of this cursed rebellion that is now covering our country with 
debt and mourning ? If the members of our Convention don't know 
these facts now they will learn them to their sorrow before long. 
Political death will be the fate of every member of the Convention, 
who has and does hereafter oppose having a gradual emancipation 
provision engrafted in the Constitution. 

"Have the members of our Convention ever reflected and consid- 
ered what would be the consequences to the people of Western Vir- 
ginia should our new State organization fail and we have to be put 
under the rule and dominion of the rebel traitors of old Virginia ? 
They must know that the traitor part of Virginia would have a ma- 
jority in the State and could and would rule us with a rod of iron. 
Don't they know that the traitors both East and West hate the Union 
men of Virginia worse than they do the devil and would delight in 
tyrannizing over them. And they must know further that the debt 
of Virginia before this rebellion was near fifty millions of dollars,, 

Q 



122 



and that we of Northwestern Virginia got but very little of what that 
debt was made for, and further, there can be no doubt but what, 
since the rebellion, Eastern Virginia has made a debt of an enor- 
mous amount. Now suppose we fail in our new State organization 
and have to come under the control of the traitors, what is to hinder 
them from making us bear the burden of the most of these debts ? 
It is a well known fact that a large portion of Virginia is now devas- 
tated and impoverished, and there is not much doubt but before this 
rebellion is put down a great deal more of it will be in the same sit- 
uation. And the niggers, the boasted wealth of Eastern Virginia, 
where are they now ! There is no doubt but a large portion of them 
have been sent South, and as little doubt that a large number of 
them have found their way North. Now, with a knowledge of all 
these facts, who can suppose that Virginia can pay her debts ? Does 
not repudiation stare her in the face ? Is it not inevitable ? Do the 
members of our Convention want Northwestern Virginia to be a part 
of a State that will have to repudiate her debts, and be under the 
rule of as base a set of tyrants as ever disgraced the earth ? If not, 
then let them assemble as soon as possible, while the Legislature is 
in session, and add a gradual emancipation provision to the Consti- 
tution, which will, no doubt, prevent such a dreadful calamity coming 
on us. And there is another consideration about this emancipation 
business which ought to be considered well by the members of our 
Convention, and that is the people should have a chance to decide 
the nigger question for themselves. The responsibility of deciding 
all questions that pertain to the State's welfare should be referred to 
the people for their decision. Now, if the members of our Conven- 
tion are so disposed they can assemble soon, and in a few days fix 
an emancipation clause to the Constitution and let the people take 
the responsibility of deciding for themselves ; then if our new State 
organization fail they will have the satisfaction to know that it was 
not their fault. 

"Now I wish to suggest to the members of the Legislature that 
they use their best efforts to get this Convention assembled again as 
soon as possible, if they have any hopes of their adding an emanci- 
pation clause to the Constitution, but if they find there is no chance 
of getting the emancipation clause fixed by the members of the pres- 
ent Convention, I think the Legislature ought to forthwith pass an 
act calling another Convention to meet soon as possible. The emer- 
gencies of our situation require it, for all we have will be nearly 



123 



worthless if we don't get separated from old Virginia ; and unless we 
have an emancipation provision in the Constitution there is no hopes 
of admission by Congress. You Messrs. Editors know and can in- 
form the people there is no time for delay. It is almost certain, if 
we don't get the consent of the Legislature within a few months we 
will never .get it M." 



Soon after publishing my last letter, I drew up the following Ap- 
peal ; and after submitting it to some friends, I went to Ironton, 
Ohio, and had a large number printed in document form, and imme- 
diately enclosed a copy to each member of Congress, the President, 
and each member of his Cabinet, and the leading Republican jour- 
nals of the country. I ventured to subscribe it in the man- 
ner that appears. 



AN APPEAL OF THE PEOPLE OF WEST VIRGINIA TO 
CONGRESS, SUGGESTING FOR THE CONSIDERATION 
OF MEMBERS MATERIAL FACTS ■ ACCEPTING THE 
"NATION'S PROPOSAL" FOR THE GRADUAL ABOLISH- 
MENT OF SLAVELY, AND ASKING THAT BODY TO 
GIVE ITS CONSENT TO THE ERECTION AND ADMIS- 
SION OF THE NEW STATE INTO THE UNION AT ITS 
PRESENT SESSION. 

Gentlemen : A Constitution conforming to our wishes in all re- 
spects but one, the informal spontaneous, and nearly unanimous ex- 
pression of such Counties throughout the proposed State (being 
about twenty), as had an opportunity to speak upon the matter, which 
our Delegates in Convention unwarrantably suppressed, with the al- 
most unanimous consent of the Legislature of the mother State, have 
been laid before your honorable body for its consent agreeably to the 
3d Section, Article 4th, of the Federal Constitution. The action by 
the Legislature of the mother State, has, in our judgment, placed the 
people of the proposed State in direct communication with your 
body, to negotiate for its consent to the erection and admission of 
West Virginia into the Union, upon such terms as shall be agreed 
upon by your body and ourselves, subject only to the fundamental 



124 



compacts contained in the 8th Section of the 8th Article of the new 
Constitution; touching the public debt, and the ist Section of the 
9th Article of the same, touching titles to land — and without further 
resort to that body. Our Convention still exists, and can be re-con- 
vened whenever necessary to carry into effect the terras that may be 
agreed upon. 

It is proper for us to say, as mitigating in some measure the wrong 
done us by the Convention, in withholding the matter from our de- 
cision, that the Delegates thereof were elected and the Convention, 
as it supposed, had completed its labors and adjourned, (though sub- 
ject to be reconvened), before there had been any definite or authen- 
tic expression of the views of the Nation, or our people, upon the 
subject. 

OUR CLAIM ON CONGRESS FOR PROMPT ACTION AT ITS PRESENT SESSION. 

When we ask Congress to change the oldest State in the Union, so 
as to make two States instead of one, and four Senators instead of 
two, we expect to make out a case, the justice, equity and propriety 
of which shall satisfy all loyal and fair minded men, that we merit 
what we ask, and which shall readily evoke the exercise by Congress 
of a power purely discretionary. 

It is now about forty years since the expediency of dividing the 
State was first discussed, some contending that the Blue Ridge, and 
others the Alleghany Mountains, ought to constitute the boundary. 
The Seaboard and Piedmont Districts, in order to make sure of the 
Valley, extended internal improvements of all descriptions into that 
section, uniting the people commercially and socially with Richmond ; 
and after Baltimore had extended a branch of its road to Winchester, 
our Legislature denied further charters. The growing of slaves for 
the Southern markets, served also to attach and assimilate the Valley 
to the East, and to alienate it from the West. In proportion as the 
East has been lavish to the Valley, it has been sparing to the West ; 
and of the forty-four millions of State debt, created prior to January 
ist, 1861, and expended in internal improvements, only one and a 
half millions have been expended West of the Alleghanies. And 
when Baltimore proposed to extend branches of its road throughout 
our territory, at its own expense, the Legislature refused to grant 
charters for the purpose — being neither willing to improve our coun- 
try themselves, nor permit any one else to do it. 

Of the half million slaves in the State in i860, only about ten 



125 



thousand were owned West of the Alleghanies. The Valley and the 
East have co-operated to enact and continue a system of taxation 
more unequal and unjust to the West than anything of the kind be- 
fore known. By it, no slave, though worth $2,000 in the market, can 
be valued over $300 for the purpose of taxation ; and no slave under 
the age of twelve years, though worth $600 to $800, can be taxed at 
all. /;/ this way two hundred million dollars worth of slave property, 
owned almost exclusively in the Valley and the East, has never been 
taxed at all, while every other species of property has been taxed to 
its full value. And almost every species of income, even to the earn- 
ings of day-laborers, which go daily to support their families, are 
either taxed, or are liable to be taxed ; and also nearly every branch 
of business, except the growing, working and selling of negroes, by 
requiring licenses to be taken and paid for at enormous prices. The 
poor man, who buys a piece of wild land, with a view to clear up 
and make him a home, has to pay $1,00 tax to the State before his 
deed can be recorded — this being in addition to the recording fee ; 
and so with all forms of legal process, whether relating to the living, 
or the settlement of estates of the dead. All this startling injustice 
and oppression exists now throughout the State. Everything pays 
tribue to the slave power. 

Besides, the East early adopted a system of "land law" which has 
for eighty years, and does to-day, treat the lands West of the Alle- 
ghanies as "waste and unappropriated" and has continued to sell them 
and grant patents of any portions to anybody who will pay, until the 
whole country has become shingled over, and some five or six patents 
deep. Two, three, and frequently more, have paid taxes on the 
same land, at the same ti?ne. The result has been to increase 
the revenue drawn from the West, to keep the titles to land un- 
settled — plenty of work for lawyers, and a defrauded and impover- 
ished people. The Legislature has repeatedly exonerated lands in 
the Valley and in the East of taxes justly assessed ; whilst, by the 
same act, it enforced the payment of the like tax against the lands 
of the West by ordering their sale. There is one statute of limita- 
tion relating to lands East, and another relating to lands West, of the 
Alleghany Mountains. 

These are some of the wrongs which the people of the Valley and 
the East — they having had a large majority in both branches of the 
Legislature, increased in the Senate by a mixed or property basis — 



126 



have practised on the people West of the mountains. And is it any 
wonder, that when a year ago, these oppressors — the measure of 
whose iniquity had become full — plunged into treason and rebellion 
against the Government of their choice which had bestowed every 
blessing, without one single wrong that could be specified, that the 
loyal and true, though long oppressed and abused people of the 
West, should have rallied around the nation's flag, and at the same 
time have embraced the first opportunity ever offered for making 
their escape from such bondage ? As we are human, we could not 
have done otherwise ; and still we had a terrible enemy to battle with 
in our very midst. The minions and tools of the slave oligarchy in 
the East were thick among us. Jenkins, Wise & Co. were gather- 
ing their forces and a terrible doom was denounced on all who should 
hesitate to take up arms and defend the State ("after a majority had 
voted her out," as they contended, "against ruthless invaders."; 
Many of our counsellors and guides in matters of constitutional 
rights and duties, had either openly joined the enemy, or stood silent 
in trembling suspense. The plan so timely proposed by General 
McClellan to give effectual protection to our loyal people was 
thwarted by the treason or the weakness of former leaders. / 



It was at this trying crisis that some bold men, from among the 
people, struck for re-organizing the State Government, and that ac- 
complished, then for a new State, and eternal deliverance from our 
worse than Egyptian oppressors in the East. Light broke through 
the thick darkness, and we awoke as if from a dream. 

About this time the Stars and Stripes were unfurled by the sons of 
Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, upon the "sacred soil," and our young 
men and the middle aged gathered around the Nation's standard. 
The spell of years that moment was broken, and our people began to 
stand up in the majesty and strength of conscious manhood. We 
have continued to rally, leaving our wives and children, aged de- 
pendents and property, to the mercy of the guerrilla and bandit, un- 
til our people to-day are as largely represented in the loyal army as 
the other portions of our country, where no such sacrifices had to be 
made. 

The effect of the loyalty of West Virginia thus thrown into the 
scale at a moment when the fate of our country trembled in the 
balance, when the mere accidental use of an ex. instead of an abdi- 
cated, Governor's name to a telegram, could, under the Providence 




127 



of God, have save' I from destruction a Government like ours, no 
man can calculate. But whatever may have been its weight and 
effect, we feel that the Federal Government has fully paid us by its 
liberal and timely aid. We only claim to have done our duty faith- 
fully in this great crisis. Meantime, our people have pressed for- 
ward the New State project with equal vigor. We felt that the Al- 
mighty had opened a way for our deliverance, and we were resolved 
to improve it. The minions of the power of the East were every- 
where busy among us. They affected to be friendly leaders and 
guides still. They at first openly opposed the measure, but finding 
the people were resolved they changed tactics, and pretended to 
favor it. But, with a view to retain the leadership of the measure 
and wreck the whole project upon a fail 'lire ; as they confidently ex- 
pected, to harmonize the views of our people, which were supposed 
to be pro-Slavery, with the views of the Republican Congress on the 
subject of Slavery, and receive ti eir reward, when they should return 
to Richmond with West Virginia, foiled in her purpose, and still in 
chains. 

Some of the "wolves in sheep's clothing," managed to get them- 
selves chosen Delegates to the Convention to frame the Constitu- 
tion, and it was through their influence and misrepresentation that 
the question of gradual emancipation was not permitted to go to the 
decision of the people, and through their influence the clause is now 
wanting in the instrument. And the same persons used every effort 
to prevent the spontaneous and informal vote, which, in spite of them, 
was given in favor of emancipation. They are too well known now 
to be able to deceive the people again. They boldly contended that 
it was the wish of the Federal Government that the Convention 
should be silent and ignore the question of slavery ; and, if it were 
otherwise, it would be unsafe to refer the question of emancipation 
to the people at this time ; that they would get mad with excitement 
and tear things to pieces ! Fortunately, neither of these assertions 
or predictions has proven true. The "Nation's proposal" we now 
have, and the people, have of their own accord, and in defiance of 
the commands and warnings of these men, given their votes without 
"undue excitement, and without having torn anything to pieces." 

THE NECESSITY OF IMMEDIATE ACTION BY CONGRESS. 

If Congress shall defer its action upon the subject until the next 
session, there is imminent danger that the accession of new members 



128 



from the Counties of the Valley and East, that will be elected and 
sent into the Legislature as soon as the rebellion shall be crushed in 
that section, and the East and Valley secure thereby a majority of. 
both branches of the Legislature adverse to a separation, and as the 
Legislature will be convened in extra session before Congress shall 
meet again, such Legislature will repeal the act already passed, giv- 
ing consent, and the consent of that body cannot be obtained after- 
wards. There is no doubt such will be the disposition and action of 
the Legislature as soon as it gets the power. 

There were members from the Valley and East of the Blue Ridge, 
in the Legislature at its recent session, and although they personally 
acknowledged the merits and just claims of West Virginia, yet, out 
of regard to the known sentiment of their constituents, they felt 
themselves constrained to vote against it. This is actual demonstra- 
tion, if any be needed, that the loyal portion of the people East of 
the Alleghanies will never consent to let Western Virginia go. They 
will say that they love us too well to think of a separation, and that 
our co-operation is indispensable to enable them to hold in check the 
great number of unregenerate traitors that shall continue among 
them. But it is quite uncertain whether the loyal people of the 
whole State combined will be able, for some time at least, to out-vote 
the disloyal portion (unless the latter shall be disfranchised) and so 
subject the whole State to loyal rule; whereas, taking the cis- 
Alleghany people, separate by themselves, and there can be no doubt 
as to their power to control the disloyal. The disloyal portion of 
the Valley and East will desire to hold on if they can control, op- 
press and torture us ; otherwise, they will be for letting us go. 

CERTAIN OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

First. That Congress ought not to regard the consent of the 
present Legislature which has been given, as satisfying the require- 
ment of the 3d Section, 4th Article, of the Federal Constitution, be- 
cause all the Counties of the mother State, though invited, were not 
in fact represented. Such objectors would therefore have us simply 
decline the way of escape, now providentially opened, from unpar- 
alled oppression, and wait until our oppressors shall have regained 
their former power, "bound us hand and foot," and remanded us to 
our former bondage. Whatever loyal West Virginians might have 
done a year ago, they are now prepared to strike down the unholy 
oppressor whenever and wherever opportunity siiiay offer., 



We deem it unnecessary to say anything in support of the legal 
competency of the present Legislature to give the required consent to 
the separation. Letcher and his co-conspirators through their trea- 
son, committed against both State and Federal Government, abdicat- 
ed ; and the powers of the State, incapable of annihilation returned 
to the people. The disloyal portion could not take advantage of 
this forfeiture for they were confederate with Letcher, partkipes 
triminiS) equally guilty, and to allow it would be to allow a party "to 
take advantage of his own wrong." The loyal people alone had the 
right to take advantage of the forfeiture, and re-produce and re-or- 
ganize the Government. Full notice was given to all loyal people 
throughout the State, and all who would and could be, were repre- 
sented in the Convention which, convened at Wheeling, the nth of 
June, i86t, and re-organized the Government, and caused to be 
elected and convened at Wheeling, the present Legislature. If ali 
loyal people were not represented, it was their own fault or misfor- 
ture, and on account ofeither^ it would have been wrong to have per- 
mitted the whole machinery of Government to remain suspended, 
especially as there exists no power to compel an election and return 
of Delegates. If a County or Senatorial District, neglect or refuse 
to elect and return Senators or Delegates, there is no power to com- 
pel, and those elected and returned, must ex necessitate rei, constitute 
the legal body, and its acts bind all, 

But it is unnecessary to elaborate this point, as every branch of 
the Federal Government has now for nearly a year been recognizing 
its legitimacy in various forms, and by the most solemn and deliber- 
ate acts. It is, therefore, too late to take exception, even if any 
valid ground had existed, which we deny. 

The Legislature, and the Governor during vacation, have granted 
Writs of Election, whenever applied for by the people in any County 
or District of the State, and elections have been held, and Delegates 
and Senators returned, and admitted into their respective branches, 
without hindrance from any quarter. Northampton, Accomac, Fair- 
fax, Loudon, Berkeley, Hampshire and Hardy, were all represented 
at the late session. 

Others who admit the strict legality of the consent given by the 
Legislature, object that it is morally wrong — wrong in the forum of 
conscience, to effect a division of the State, until every section shall 
be represented in the Legislature. This objection we have already 
R 



130 



answered, and need only add that no loyal mind will hesitate to sar 
where such objectors' sympathies lie. 

Others object that it is unjust and unfair in the loyal people of 
West Virginia, to separate themselves from the loyal people in the 
Valley and in the East, at this time of their trouble. We would ask 
who, and where, are those loyal people of the Valley and the East ? 
Where have they been during the fearful struggle of life or death, to 
our glorious Government ? Have they rallied around the old flag in 
this their country r s peril ? Have they become voluntary exiles from 
home, family and all that is dear, rather than submit to and affiliate 
with fiendish traitors ? Have they abandoned all to the mercy of 
marauders and bandits as West Virginians have done, to battle for 
their country ? If they have, we have not heard of it. But are they 
not rather, with some bright exceptions, avaricious and no souled 
loyalists — these "submit to the powers that be" patriots, whether that 
power be Jeff. Davis, or any other, no matter, if only their persons 
and property are kept safe ? In the bold, open, but deluded rebel, 
there is something to admire ; but in the "submit to the powers that 
be" loyalist, in these times, there is nothing. 

But the most important inquiry which all loyal Western Virginians 
have to make in this respect, is this : have not these now professed 
friends and loyalists, of the Valley and the East, done as much, and 
been as ready as any others during the past forty years to impose 
and continue the unjust oppression to the West ? Have they ever 
lifted a voice or a finger towards alleviating our unjust burdens ? 
What possible claim then can they have on us now to remain and 
help them to reconcile their Confederates in our oppression, until 
they can again unite to remand us to our former vassalage ? Will 
any sane loyal man hold up his head and say we owe them anything 
but retaliation — were we unchristian enough to acknowledge and pay 
such a debt, which we trust none of us are disposed to do ? On the 
score of true merit the balance is already largely in our favor. And 
is there any member of Congress who will desire to retain us to help 
reconcile among themselves, our common oppressors east of the Al- 
leghanies for the last forty years, so tbey may again jointly resume 
and exercise that prerogative, rather,, than help us escape ? If there 
is we should Ike to see him hold up Ms head also, and assert it. 
But there are none. Such thoughts can only exist in minds unhinged 
by the mania of secession, or other like malady. Nevertheless we 



131 



wish it understood that to help true and live loyal men anywhere? 
inone will make greater sacrifices than loyal West Virginians. 

But others object that we should not ask for separation at pres- 
ent, because Congress and the re-organized Government of Virginia 
will require our aid to help reclaim and restore the rebellious East. 
If it is thought by these Governments, or either of them that loyal 
West Virginians can serve the cause better, connected than separat- 
ed, in this respect, and after the re-organized Government shall re- 
move to Richmond, where we understand it hopes soon to go, we will 
consent to do so most cheerfully, and shall respectfully ask Congress 
to adopt the following course of action, which will enable us to give 
that aid without endangering our final deliverance by the establish- 
ment of the new State. It is this : For Congress to pass an act at 
its present session, giving its consent to the division and admission of 
West Virginia, to I'ke effect when the qualified voters thereof shall ac- 
cept the u N<itio?t's Proposal" made by Congress, pursuant to the rec- 
ommendation of the President, on the 6th of March last, in relation 
to the gradual emancipation of, and compensation for the few slaves 
of loyal men now remaining among us, not exceeding 2,000 in num- 
ber. Our Convention, or the Commissioners appointed thereby, can 
arrange with vour body the details to be embodied in your act, and 
our people will accept, and ratify the same, by a vote of at least 
twenty to one, at any time thereafter, when the President shall notify 
the Commissioners aforesaid, that our services in that respect are no 
longer required. The Commissioners, or Convention, will then sub- 
mit the provisions to the qualified voters, who are sure to ratify the 
same with the unanimity before stated, and the separation will there- 
upon become consummated. This action on the part of your body 
at its present session, (making itself a party thereto,) will place the 
matter for a certainty, beyond the reach of the repealing power of 
unfriendly State Legislatures, if such shall have the power, and add to 
the new Constitution a provision which nearly all the people earnest- 
ly desire, but which our Convention omitted, and denied us an oppor- 
tunity to insert, for causes already stated. The competency of Con- 
gress to give such conditional consent is clear on general principles, 
and has been sanctioned repeatedly by Congress. Missouri was ad- 
mitted March 2d, 182 1, on condition that its Legislature should there- 
after consent to the "compromise measures" proposed by Congress. 
Its Legislature having thereafter consented, and complied with the 
condition annexed, its formation became complete and perfect, 



132 



August 28th, 182 1, upon announcement of the fact by proclamation, 
as the act of Congress provided, and without further action by Con- 
gress. Volume 3d, page 797, Statutes at Large. So with Michigan. 
Ib., Volume 5th, page 49. So with Wisconsin, lb., Volume 9th, 
page 233. So with Iowa, lb., Volume 9th, page 177, and so with 
Kansas. In these cases it is true the States were formed out of Fed- 
eral Territory. But it is very clear, that after the Legislature of the 
mother State gives its consent to the division, fixes the boundaries, 
and prescribes such other fundamental provisions as she judges the 
best interest of the whole State requires, the segregating people must- 
stand subject only to such limitations, in substantially the same rela- 
tion to Congress as the residents of Federal Territory. The former 
must be as free to negotiate with Congress for its consent, and to 
make and receive propositions, as the latter are. In the case of 
Missouri, the condition annexed by Congress, had relation to the 
slave institution in that State. 

In most of the other cases cited, the conditions annexed by Con- 
gress related to boundaries. There can be no question therefore, as 
to the entire right and propriety of Congress, annexing the condition 
proposed, to its consent, and however much dictation, and improper 
interference, the minions of the slave power may affect to see in it, 
nineteen-twentieths of our loyal people earnestly desire the provision, 
and desire Congress to do for them as a favor, what their unfaithful 
delegates failed to do in the Convention. We beg the members of 
your honorable body not to suffer your minds to be abused by a class 
of men among us who are, or have been enemies to the new State in 
disguise. They have spared and will spare no pains to defeat it. 
Some are members of the Convention and perhaps the commission 
appointed by that Convention, and others of the Legislature. 'Tis 
the outside pressure of an earnest and determined constituency, 
whom they have deceived and now attempt to betray, that makes 
them assume their present guise. Their highest aspiration is to de- 
feat the whole project, and deliver over West Virginia, with tightened 
chains and a broken spirit, to her former oppressors. 

Compare West Virginia as she is, with what she might have been, if 
she had been free from the oppression and thraldom of an accursed 
slave oligarchy and its minions. Her salubrious climate, fertile soil 
and fine streams, attracted the attention of Washington and his co- 
patriots. Soon after the Revolution, they patented and attempted a 
settlement of a large portion of her land. Their great influence and 



133 

combined efforts were directed in that end. The great free West 
was then, and for a long time afterwards, an unbroken wilderness ; 
and still the tide of emigration and capital has flowed from the East 
to the West, veering around our repulsive border as the mighty river 
bends its course around the repellant features of the projecting rock, 
until it has filled up the vast valley with States Imperial, reached the 
base of the Rocky Mountains, and sent back its refluent wave ; nay, 
it has o'er-leaped that stern barrier, peopled the land of gold, and is 
fast filing up the whole Pacific slope. And where is West Virginia ? 
Comparatively a wilderness still ! Look on either side of our beauti- 
ful Ohio. On the one hand is a thrifty, happy and loyal people. 
Their hills covered with green pastures, and waving grain, are worth 
from $15 to $30 per acre; on the other side, we find similar hills, 
but they are still, in a great measure, covered with primeval forests, 
and worth from 50 cts. to $1 per acre ; and a large portion of her 
people, roaming bands of marauding guerrillas, mad with treason, and 
"seeking whom they may devour." Your own minds can run out the 
contrast and assign the cause. 

We have just read the proclamation of our good and sagacious 
Chief Magistrate, restating the "standing proposal" of the Federal 
Government and using the following significant language : 

"It now stands an authentic, definite and solemn proposal of the 
Nation, to the States and people most immediately interested in the 
subject matter. To the people of these States I now earnestly ap- 
peal — I do not argue. I do beseech you to make the argument for 
yourselves. You cannot, if you would, be blind to the signs of the 
times. I beg of you a calm and honest consideration of them, rang- 
ing, if it may be, far above partisan and personal politics." 

All this the people of West Virginia have calmly and deliberately 
done, and desire to be the first to accept and carry the same into 
practical operation, as we have been the first to reclaim and re-or- 
ganize a loyal State Government ; and we entreat your honorable 
body to help us in the manner before indicated or in any other your 
superior wisdom may suggest. And we entreat you not to let our 
enemies, in whatever form or guise they may appear, misrepresent 
us. We know our present position is awkward and embarrassing, 
and hence we stand in greater need of your aid. You know the 
causes that have placed us in this predicament. Our sentiment and 
that of the Nation are now fully known on the subject. In these 
times of great and sudden changes, startling facts and stern realities, 



134 



the known character of your body leads us to hope that no matter of 
mere form or technicality will be permitted to stand between us and the 
great object which both of the negotiating parties are so desirous to 
attain. Nor will you let the fallacious, though specious argument it 
may be, of our enemies, that the whole State is soon to be reclaimed 
to loyalty, accept the "National proposal," and a millenial harmony 
is to exist between the East and the West, and that the "lion and the 
lamb," the oppressor and oppressed, are to lie down in love together. 
Let us not be deceived ; but remember that the same physical, com- 
mercial and geographical necessities, the same political, moral and 
social antagonism, will stiH exist as they always have between the 
sections East and West of the Alleghanies ; and the line of their 
separation is, and will remain, as marked and permanent as the Alle- 
ghanies themselves, absolutely necessitating, now and always, separ- 
ate peoples. 

Confiding in the justice of your honorable body we have frankly 
disclosed our present condition with our hopes, fears and desires, 
and what seems to us to be our just merits, and "appealing from 
Festus unto Oesar," we commit our Destiny into your hands. If 
disenthralled and permitted to set up for herself, West Virginia will 
at once "spring forth into newness of life, with joy and freedom in 
her wings" — to bless and be blessed ; but if remanded to her worse 
than former bondage and chains, the young and loyal West, bound 
indissolubly to the disloyal and now self -immolated East, the living 
Hindoo widow bound to the corpse of her deceased husband, she 
will become lost to the country, and no pen can adequately depict 
the anguish and utter dispair that will settle with crushing weight 
upon the hearts of her loyal people. But we know that some timely 
action of your body will save us from such a fate. 

The Loyal People of West Virginia. 

May 22, 1862. 



The Lawrence County Clipper, at whose office it was printed, pub- 
lished it in full, in its issue of June 3, 1862. The Wheeling Intelli- 
gencer, of June 7, 1862, also published it in full. The editor of the 
latter, A. W. Campbell, Esq., as I was afterwards informed, visited 
many of the editors of the leading Republican journals, explaining 



the vital importance of th« measure, to the loyal people of West 
Virginia, securing their advocacy, as well as furnishing articles him- 
self. This effort, on the part of Mr. Campbell, was of great ser- 
vice, and helped to bring the subject prominently before the public. 
Many of the journals gave the substance of the Appeal, and all ex- 
pressed sympathy, though some thought the time inauspicious. 
While at Ironton, I accompanied the copy sent to the Hon. Benja- 
min F. Wade with an explanatory note, and not having the honor of 
his personal acquaintance, the Hon. Ralph Leete and John Camp- 
bell, Esq., our warm sympathizers, and efficient helpers, on all oc- 
casions, were so kind as to vouch for me. 

Let us now glance, for a moment, to the condition of our case at 
Washington. The Commissioners having the matter in charge, pro- 
ceeded to Washington soon after they were furnished with copies of 
the Constitution, and action of the Legislature, hichw were pre- 
sented to the Senate by Mr. Willey, one of the Virginia Senators, 
chosen by the Re-organized Government, accompanied by an appro- 
priate speech, had there not been "a nigger in the wood pile." He 
urged, with consent of the Commissioners, I presume, that Congress 
should admit, with the Constitution as presented, which he declared 
expressed the will of the people, and made no allusion, whatever, to 
that will, as simultaneously expressed, on. the Emancipation clause, by 
the informal vote. This was entirely ignored. The matter was re- 
ferred to the Territorial Committee, of which Mr. Wade, of Ohio, 
was Chairman, and Mr.. Carlisle, the other Virginia Senator under 
the Re-organized Government, was a member, and then a determin- 
ed enemy in disguise, of a new State, as would seem from the sequel; 
though he had been foremost in inaugurating it in the first Conven- 
tion, as before stated. The matter was referred to this Committee 
on the 25th of May, which did not report till the 23d of June, nearly 
a month, and then reported as Senate Bill No. 365, which was read ai 
first and second time. As this Bill reveals, with so much distinct- 
ness, the cutimus of the home enemy in disguise, that the measure 
was cursed with, including Senator Carlisle, whose brain shaped 
and fashioned, while others inspired — I copy its substance, as stated 
in the Congressional Globe, of that session, page 2942. 



"The motion was agreed to ; and the bill (S. No. 365) providing; 
for the admission of the State of West Virginia into the Union,, was. 



136 

read a second time, and considered as in Committee of the Whole. 
By an act of the State of Virginia, passed May 13, T862, entitled 
"An act giving the consent of the Legislature of Virginia to the for- 
mation and erection of a new State within the jurisdiction of this 
State," the people of that part of the State of Virginia including the 
counties of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Marion, Mon- 
ongalia, Preston, Taylor, Tyler, Pleasants, Ritchie, Doddridge, Har- 
rison, Wood, Jackson, Wirt, Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer, Barbour, Tuck- 
er, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, Randolph, Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, 
Clay, Nicholas, Cabell, Wayne, Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, 
McDowell, Webster, Pocahontas, Fayette, Raleigh, Greenbrier, Mon- 
roe, Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan, did, with the con- 
sent of the Legislature of the State of Virginia, form themselves into 
an independent State, and did establish a constitution for the govern- 
ment of the same. The bill therefore proposes to admit the State of 
West Virginia into the Union on an equal footing with the original 
States in all respects whatever, upon the following conditions : that 
there shall be included within the State of West Virginia, in addition 
to the counties already enumerated in the preamble, the following 
counties, as laid off and defined by the Legislature of the State of 
Virginia: Berkeley, Jefferson, Clark, Frederick, Warren, Page, She- 
nandoah, Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, Bath, Rockbridge, Bote- 
tourt, Craig, and Alleghany ; that the convention thereinafter pro- 
vided for, shall, in the constitution to be framed by it, make provision 
that from and after the 4th day of July, 1863, the children of all 
slaves born within the limits of the State shall be free. 

"The second section authorizes and empowers the people of the 
counties thereinbefore enumerated, qualified under the constitution of 
Virginia as electors, to vote for and choose representative? to form a 
convention for framing and adopting a constitution for a State by the 
name of West Virginia, or any other name the convention may 
adopt, in accordance with the provisions of this act ; and all persons 
qualified for representatives to the Legislature of Virginia under the 
Constitution thereof are to be qualified to be elected to the Conven- 
tion. The election for the representatives is to be held at such time 
at the usual places of voting in the several counties as the Governor 
of Virginia may direct and prescribe, and as soon as may be after the 
people thereof may be relieved from the presence of armed insur- 
gents ; and the representatives to the Convention are to be appor- 
tioned among the several counties as follows : Hancock, 1 ; Brooke,. 



137 



i ; Ohio, 3 ; Marshall) 2 ; Wetzel, i } Marion, 2 ; Monongalia, a \ 
Preston, 2 ; Taylor, 1 ; Tyler, 1 ; Pleasants, 1 ; Ritchie, t ; Dod- 
dridge, 1 Harrison, 2 ; Wood, 2 ; Jackson, 1 ; Wirt, 1 ; Roane, 1 ) 
Calhoun, 1 ; Gilmer, 1 ; Barbour, r ; Tucker, 1 ; Lewis, 1 ; Braxton, 
t ; Upshur, 1 ; Randolph, r ; Mason, 1 ; Putnam, t ; Kanawha, 2 ■ 
Clay, 1 ; Nicholas, 1 ; Cabell, 1 ; Wayne, 1 ; Boone, 1 ; Logan, 1 ; 
Wyoming, 1 ; Mercer, 1 ; McDowell, t ; Webster, 1 ; Pocahontas, 1 j 
Fayette, t ; Raleigh, 1 ; Greenbrier, 2 ; Monrde, 2 ; Pendleton, 1 • 
Hardy, 1 ; Hampshire, 2 ; Morgan, t ; Berkeley, 2 ; Jefferson, 2 ; 
Clafk, t ; Frederick, 2 ; Warren, 1 ; Page, 1 ; Shenandoah, 2 j Rock- 
ingham, 3 ; Augusta, 3 ; Highland, 1 ; Bath, t ; Rockbridge, 2 \ 
Botetourt, t ; Craig, 1; Alleghany, i, 

"The third section enacts that the members of the Convention 
elected under the provisions of this act shall meet at such places as 
the Governor of the State of Virginia shall designate, at as early a 
day after their election as may be practicable, and shall have power 
and authority to form a Constitution and State Government upon the 
conditions prescribed in this act. and not repugnant to the Constitu-^ 
tion of the United States, which Constitution so adopted by the Con- 
vention shall be submitted to the people of the State of West Vir- 
ginia for their adoption and ratification. 

"The fourth section enacts that upon the ratification of the Con- 
stitution framed by the Convention, and the public declaration by 
the Legislature of the State of Virginia assenting to the formation of 
the State of West Virginia under the provisions and conditions im- 
posed by this act, it shall be the duty of the Governor thereof to 
transmit official evidence of the same to the President of the United 
States on or before the — day of - — next, upon receipt whereof 
the President, by proclamation, shall announce the fact ; Whereupon, 
and without any further proceeding on the part of Congress, the ad- 
mission of the State into the Union shall be considered as complete. 

"The fifth section declares that the State of West Virginia shall be 
entitled, until the next general census, to as many Representatives 
in the House of Representatives as the population thereof will au- 
thorize under the present apportionment." 



It abrogated, as will be obsei v'ed* mil that had been done ; required 



138 

the whole thing to be gone over again y admitted the State, whether 
its form of government was republican or not, upon these conditions, 
viz : that it should include nearly or quite all the Counties of the 
Shenandoah Valley, to the top of the Blue Ridge, (the same scheme 
that was attempted in the Convention; should contain a clause that 
all children born of slaves after July 4, 1863, should be free ; that 
such Constitution should be submitted to the people of all the 
Counties named, after all military force had been removed, and re- 
ceive a majority of. votes, be consented to by the Legislature of 
Virginia, and then to becomes member of the Union upon the Presi- 
dent issuing his proclamation — without Congress having had the 
opportunity of deciding whether the form of government was repub- 
lican or not. The scheme was as shallow and suicidal, as it was 
specious and treacherous. Who of the Territorial Committee was 
the deviser and getter-up of the scheme, Mr. Wade tells in the 
sequel. That member of the Committee had the matter in his hands 
for nearly a month, and while copies of our printed Appeal aforesaid, 
were in the hands of the members of Congress, the Territorial Com- 
mittee, as well as the friends and enemies out of Congress. Of 
course, during that time, the particular member of the Territorial 
Committee, had the counsel and advise of its opponents living in 
and out of the proposed State, including a majority at least, I believe, 
of the Commissioners, especially charged to see the measure carried 
through. 

Their object was to meet the gradual emancipation offered to Con- 
gress by the Appeal, by adopting a gradual emancipation clause, and 
at the same time to effectually kill the measure by introducing other 
features, as the taking in of the fifteen additional Valley Counties, 
postponing the popular vote until peace should be restored through- 
out the whole oi Virginia, which meant country. Of course it meant 
certain death to the new State, in any form. 

The Report of the Territorial Committee the 23d of June, at first 
staggered and bewildered everybody, editors included ; hence, all 
sorts of interpretations were put upon their Report by the press, 
which the enemy everywhere regarded, and pronounced to be, certain 
death to the new State. 

About this time I had occasion to go to Parkersburg on private 
business, where I learned, for the first time, from conflicting state- 
ments in the papers, that the Committee had reported, and the gener- 



139 



al features of the bill. Dropping my private matters, I immediately 
went to Wheeling, where I was informed some of our Commissioners, 
with other opponents, had just passed through Wheeling on their re- 
turn from Washington, to their homes, and had pronounced the 
measure dead. The Wheeling papers, including the Intelligencer, 
also said as much. 



[From the Wheeling Intelligencer of June 27, 1862.] 
"THE SENATE BILL FOR THE FORMATION OF A NEW 

STATE. 

"We print on our first page this morning the report of the U. S. 
Senate Committee on Territories, providing for the foimation and ad- 
mission of a new State, to which reference was made yesterday. We 
do not know that anything can be profitably added to the much that 
has already been said on this subject. We confess that in view of 
this report, and the poor prospect that seemingly exists for its rejec- 
tion, the whole matter of a new State begins to pall upon our taste. 
We begin to feel as if we had been doing the work of Sysiphus — as 
if all the labor, all the anxiety, and all of the troublous watching and 
waiting and hoping of our people had gone for nothing. 

"There is very little to be said further of an argumentative kind 
against this report. The whole ground has been traveled and re- 
traveled again and again, and our people are grown familiar and per- 
haps weary with the details. And yet notwithstanding all that has 
been said and written this very report evinces how little the gist of 
the whole effort for a new State is understood and appreciated outside 
of our midst. Either the Senate do or do not desire us to have a new 
State. If they do desire it the report of their Committee on Territo- 
ries will be promptly rejected, for that body must realize the force of 
the assertions that its adoption will never in the world give the people 
of West Virginia what they have been so long wanting, viz : a new 
and free State. To say that the boundaries prescribed shall be adhe- 
red to is to say that the State of Virginia shall remain whole and in- 
tact, for just as sure as to-morrow's sun shall rise they will never be 
the boundaries of a new State that will include this section. The 
stubborn fact that neither our people nor the people of the new 
counties proposed to be added will vote for any such State ought to 



140 

dispel the delusion of the Senate, if in reality they are deluded and 
are honestly endeavoring to give us a new State. And the additional 
stubborn fact that our next Legislature is to meet at Richmond, and 
that it will consist of a preponderance of those deadly hostile not on- 
ly to us for the part we have taken on behalf of the Union, but to 
the very idea of a division of the State, ought to insure the rejection 
of the report without so much as a division on the vote. The people 
of the Valley, of the Southwest, of the Eastern shore, and of the 
Richmond country scout at the very thought of such a thing as a new 
State. Granting that the Legislature may be ever so loyal, which no 
intelligent man. believes for a moment, their hostility to the project 
will be just as fatal to us as if they were disloyal. The proof of this 
is that every member from the East to our Legislature was opposed 
to the new State. Does any one suppose their minds will change 
when they get to Richmond ? Never ! 

"The whole thing, then, now to be done, and the only thing, is for 
the Senate to reject this report. We hope to see our Senators moving 
to amend it by substituting the boundaries laid down at Wheeling. 
As to the provision concerning slavery, our people would have no 
objections to that. Let the Senate tack on the emancipation clause, 
and our voters will give them an earnest of how much they are en- 
listed in this matter of a new State, by promptly adopting it. We 
appeal, then, to the intelligent and sincere men of the; United States 
Senate, who are the friends of West Virginia, and who do not desire 
to see her put back under the domination of &ichmond> when she 
has so nearly escaped from the hated oppression of that slavery rule, 
to come promptly to our rescue and save the new State. Now is 
their only opportunity. If this session goes over, and we are not 
admitted, then, indeed, is the harvest past and the summer ended for 
us through all time to come," 



Strange as it may seem to some now, though greatly depressed, I 
could not so regard it, but felt, by proper efforts, the new State might 
yet be saved. I called on the Governor and told him, if he would 
arrange to pay my personal expenses, and notify the Commissioners 
to meet me in Washington, I would at once go on, and we would 
make a trial. He said he would notify the Commissioners, and re- 
ferred me to Daniel Lamb, Esq., a member of the Convention, and 



141 



Cashier of the Bank, in which the .State Treasurer deposited its 
land.-. J called on Mr. Lamb, stated my conference widi the (tov- 
ernor, that he referred me to him, as havirrg charge of the funds ap- 
propriated by the Legislature for the purpose, for sufficient to defray 
my personal expenses to Washington and back. He told me as i 
now recollect, the amount appropriated for the purpose had already 
been expended, and he had no authority to make the advance. I 
gave him my check on the Ironton Bank for seventy-five dollars, 
which he cashed, and which 'was duly honored. I asked him if he 
would come to Washington ; he said his engagements would not 
permit, and expressed, I think, a belief, that the measure was dead. 
I shall never forget how surprised Mr. Lamb looked, on that occasion, 
when I told him I thought there was still hope, and should make an 
effort. I reported to the Governor the result, and proposed to de- 
fray my own expenses, if he would have as many of the Commis- 
sioners and friends come to Washington as possible. I at once left 
for Washington, and on arriving at the National Hotel met (provi- 
dentially, it would seem) the Hon. Ralph Leete and John Camp- 
bell, Esq., of Ironton, Ohio, who were there on private business. 
This was the 28th of June, 1862, and I remained there until the 17th 
of July following — after the bill, in its present form, for the admis- 
sion of West Virginia, had passed the Senate (the 14th of July) by a 
vote of 23 to 17 ; and the House, the 16th of same July — the Hon. 
John A. Bingham, having charge of the bill — kad refused to lay it 
upon the table, by a vote of 70 to 44 ; but, postponed its further con- 
sideration till the second Tuesday of December then next, by a vote 
of 63 to 53 — Congress adjourned the next day. After the postpone- 
ment, several of the members were so kind as to come to the few of 
us that remained, expressing their personal sympathy, and giving 
assurance that a large majority of the House were for us, and that 
the Bill would certainly be passed early the next Session. Among 
them, the Hon. Owen Lovejoy, since gone to his reward. The Bill 
passed the House without amendment the 10th of December follow- 
ing, by a vote of 96 to 55 — was approved by the President December 
31st, and unanimously ratified by the Convention that was afterwards 
re-convened, and by the people, to whom it was submitted, and the 
new State became consummate, and a member of the Union the 20th 
of June, 1863. 

Fidelity to truth, and justice to individuals, requires I should state 
the condition, in which I found things, on arriving at Washington the 



142 



28th of June, 1862, and what transpired, relating to the subject while 
there. My friends, Messrs. Leete and Campbell, informed me, 
that from what they could learn, the new State was dead, but propos- 
ed to go that evening and introduce me to Senator Wade, Chairman 
of the Territorial Committee, that reported the Bill — to whom I had 
addressed a letter, after gathering, as near as I could, from the 
papers, the substance of the Report — stating briefly our objections. 
We went to his room and they introduced me. I inquired if he had 
received the printed Appeal and my letters. He said he had, and 
carefully read them, and believed we were right, and merited all we 
asked ; but the Committee had intrusted to Mr. Carlisle the shap- 
ing of the Bill — he being from that section, having personal knowl- 
edge, and professed to be zealous "Tor the new State. I explained 
the matter fully ; he agreed to our plan and promised his aid to carry 
it out— remarking that some of the Committee had began to distrust 
the sincerity of Mr. Carlisle. He requested we should see Mr. 
Willey, and ask him to call at his room next morning. Mr. Leete 
and myself called on Mr. Willey in the morning, and delivered the 
message. His manner was grave and reticent, but said, I think, he 
had prepared an amendment he intended to offer, when the Bill 
came up again. We then called on the Virginia Representatives that 
had been elected by the new State people, Messrs. Blair, Brown 
and Whaley. They were more communicative, but had faint hopes 
of success — the last named having said, as we afterwards learned, 
the measure would not get a vote in the lower House. But before 
Congress adjourned, he got permission to print a speech, in its favor, 
which he had circulated among his constituents, for which we were 
thankful. We felt there was little hope of resuscitating aid, save 
from heroic Ben Wade, whose intellect, we felt, we had convinced, 
and sympathy aroused, and his like that lived outside of Virginia — 
though the Hon. Wm. G. Brown, one of our Representatives, had 
on the 25 th of June introduced a Bill in the House, the nature of 
which will appear in the sequel. 

That day, Commissioners Caldwell, Paxton, and E. B. Hall, 
with several earnest new State friends, arrived from West Virginia. 
The late Mr. Van Winkle, another Commissioner, having accom- 
panied them as far as the Relay Junction, continued on to New York 
to enjoy a summer recreation. Commissioner Hall stayed but a 
day or so and left. The rest, being in dead earnest for a new State, 
aroused Mr. Willey and the three Virginia Representatives to a 



143 



comprehension of the situation, and what our people were expecting 
of them. The same day this party arrived I was introduced to the 
Rev. Dr. R. McMurdy, of Kentucky, who had studied the facts of 
our case, and became an enthusiast in our cause. I think him the 
most untiring, versatile gentleman I ever met. He enjoyed the per- 
sonal acquaintance and respect of the members generally, and had 
the address to command their attention. Through him and Mr. 
Leete, who had many acquaintances, we were introduced to most of 
the leading members of both Houses. 

Among the friends that came on, was the late Harrison Hagans, 
Esq., of Preston County, a man full of energy and downright earn- 
estness. It was him that approached with success, the most fastidious 
and inaccessible members. These friends stayed some three or four 
days, impressed the members of both Houses with their weight of 
character and earnestness of purpose. They were then obliged to 
return home, leaving Messrs. Leete, Campbell, McMurdy and my- 
self to keep the ball in motion, which they had so well started. Mr.. 
Campbell was obliged to leave in a few days, depriving us of his 
wise counsel and large influence. 

The friends had now resuscitated and energised the measure, and 
secured the attention of Congress, and imparted to the measure,, 
something of the importance it merited. Heroic Ben Wade had 
become thoroughly aroused. Senator Willey had partially emerged 
from his shell, and began to realize that the measure had friends, as. 
well as the enemies, — who, it would seem, had hitherto monopolized 
his attention as well as sympathy — at the head of the latter was Mr. 
Carlisle, in disguise, and only slightly suspected by his fellows on, 
the Territorial Committee. They put in circulation all sorts of. ob- 
jections and bugbears. It was to meet these, I published ; in, the 
National Republican, the following letters, of which the editor spoke 
kindly, and commended the measure in an able editorial : „ 



[Letter to the National Republican ] 
WEST VIRGINIA— CONGRESS SHOULD ADMIT HER AT 

ONCE. 

While we acknowledge with gratitude the favorable consideration 
of our application by Congress, the press, and loyal people every- 



144 



where, we fear that our friends in Congress do not justly appreciate 
the importance of definite action by that body upon the subject at the 
present session. 

The boundaries described in the Constitution which has been pre- 
sented,, were carefully considered and unanimously adopted by the 
Convention, and subsequently ratified by the people and Legislature 
of the mother State. These, in the opinion of the parties that have 
already acted, require no change, and will not admit of the change 
proposed by the report, without defeating the entire measure. 

A provision for the gradual, but certain, extinction of slavery our 
people desire, and will, very unanimously, adopt. We ask, however, 
that while this provision shall be of such a character as to deprive 
the expiring slave element of all political power in the new State, it 
shall admit of such disposition of the slaves in being, at the time. the 
post naii clause shall take effect, as humanity and the best interests 
of the parties immediately interested may dictate. Nor have we any 
objection to this provision being made a condition precedent, to be 
complied with before the State shall become established ; for we wish 
Congress to give us nothing in this respect on trust. We desire it to 
be named in the bond, no less than they. 

But we have very serious fears that if Congress shall defer definite 
action on the subject until the next session, the State Legislature 
will, in the meantime, repeal the act of the 13th May last, giving its 
consent to the division. We fully understand our enemy, and with 
what alacrity and reckless desperation they are accustomed to exe- 
cute their favorite plans. To defeat the new State no7u and forever 
Is one of these plans. By existing laws they have the right to elect 
and send in delegates to the State Legislature, and secure thereby a 
majority in that body adverse to letting West Virginia go. To their 
accustomed cupidity has~now become added insatiate revenge. The 
State Legislature will be convened before Congress shall meet again, 
and the irreparable mischief be done, if Congress fail to become a 
party to the measure the present session. It need consume but little 
time. It will transfer, for certainty nearly half the territory of the 
Old Dominion from slavery to freedom, with the whites and black? 
living thereon. It will dispel, to this extent at least, the dark .cloud 
and let in the sun. 

But how important, in a political and national point of riew, that 



145 



Congress should act now, and make our deliverance certain. If 
Congress fails to act now, it will be accounted by many a total defeat. 
With what heart, then, can our people go about raising the fresh 
quota of troops now called for by the President ? With what heart, 
can our sons already in the field, or to be sent there, help to bear the 
Nation's flag on to victory, while they and all of us shall feel that that 
victory must certainly consign us back to a vassalage aggravated 
by every enormity that enmity and the spirit of revenge can invent ? 

But let it be certai?i that our deliverance from the Valley and East 
is secure, and our people will respond most willingly to every call, and 
shoulder to shoulder help bear the Nation's flag to certain and com- 
plete victory over a common enemy to all loyal Americans, if not to 
mankind. 

Besides, the immediate establishment of the new State will do much 
towards extinguishing the last hope of the rebels residing within the 
bounds. They have been taught, and many religiously believe, that 
their first duty is to serve their State. Let Congress, then, at once 
give them a State government, attachment to which shall be attach- 
ment to the Federal Government at the same time. It will do much 
to bring back the deluded, and crush the last hope of premeditate d 
treason within our bounds. For these reasons we respectfully ask of 
Congress inunediate action. 

Loyal People of West Virginia. 

July 8, 1862. 



[Letter to the National Republican ] 
WEST VIRGINIA— OBJECTIONS TO ITS ADMISSION 
ANSWERED. 

Some of our friends say they have scruples, whether, acting upon 
the consent of the Legislature of the mother State, given before all 
the Counties thereof were in fact represented, would be* Constitu- 
tional. We would remind such that the existing laws of Virginia 
make a majority of members, duly elected and qualified, a Constitu- 
tional legislative quorum for doing business. That all the Counties 
were invited to elect and return members; and all duly elected and 
qualified, whether coming from the East, the Valley, or the trans- 
Alleghany, have been admitted to seats. That there exists no power 
T 



UG 



to compel the election and return of members. That the Legislative, 
Executive and Judicial branches of the re-organized government rest 
upon the same basis. The present Congress have admitted Senators 
elected by this Legislature ; have paid $41,000 of the surplus revenue 
to this government. That the Federal Government has accepted, 
now commands and pays fourteen regiments, enlisted, organized and 
commissioned by Governor Peirpoint, and has for a whole year rec- 
ognized this re-organized government as the legitimate authority of 
Virginia for all purposes. And still, if after all this there is any friend 
in Congress who doubts the power of this State Legislature to give 
consent to the proposed division required by the Federal Constitu- 
tion, we should feel constrained, perhaps, to respect him for the 
goodness of his heart, but not for his understanding. 

Others object, that they entertain doubts as to the propriety of 
Congress annexing to its consent a condition precedent, which must be 
complied with by the party asking the favor, before that party can 
take anything by his petition. 

Now, all will concede that it is a pure matter of discretion with 
Congress to grant or refuse the petition of West Virginia, The real 
merits of the case, she makes out, constitute her only ground of 
claim, and should be such, we admit, as will readily evoke the exer- 
cise of this discretionary power by Congress, while looking to the 
advantages to be derived, as well to the new State as- the whole 
country. Can it be contended for a moment that Congress, in the 
exercise of this high discretionary power, shall be confined to the 
giving of an absolutely affirmative or negative answer ? May it not, 
with the strictest propriety, say to the applicants, "We grant your 
petition* on this or that condition ; or provided you will adopt this or 
that specified amendment ?" And in the present case, the amend- 
ment proposed is what our people have for a long time desired — and 
wished to have incorporated in the Constitution at the time it was 
framed — and unanimously wish it done now in the manner proposed, 
as saving time, expense, and, very likely, the new State itself. It 
seems to us that such objections are "more nice than wise," and ill 
fitted to grapple with facts and the great realities of the clay. 

Others object that we are too hasty — unwilling to "bide our time." 
That we ought to wait till the rebellion shall be crushed out in every 
part of the State, and peace and harmony restored. Restored to 
whom, and in what manner ? T he same old vassalage, only aggravat- 



147 



ed five fold, restored to us ! But, say our friends, "Oh, we will help 
you then." How help ? Has Congress or the Federal Government 
any power to make one vote weigh down twv at the ballot box ? The 
Federal Government will have no right to interfere there and then. 
West Virginia will be crushed beneath accumulated burdens, and thus 
she must remain till Providence shall repeat its benign interposition, 
or a brave people shall cut their way out by the sword against their 
oppressors, and the Federal arm which the oppressors can in such 
case Constitutionally invoke. 

The past year of desolating civil war in our midst and at our doors, 
has taught us to be active and vigilant ; and we hope all loyal men 
have profited from the last year's experience in this respect. Wheth- 
er, then, the speedy transference of 34,000 square miles, bordering 
from 200 to 300 miles upon the Ohio river—the great highway of the 
Nation, both civil and military— and reaching back to the impassible 
summit of the Alleghanies, with 300,000 to 400,000 people, white and 
black, from slavery to freedom ; and a speedy restoration of this peo- 
ple to a settled and unwavering loyalty , to a sense of security be- 
neath the old flag — to an army of determined and resolute soldiers, 
ready to guard that river and the rights of a Government — that they 
shall feel has done them justice, be worthy, in a military, political, 
or moral point of view, a short time of Congress at its present 
session, is for that body and the people to decide — bearing in mind 
that delay may defeat all. 

Loyal People of West Virginia. 

July 10, 1862, 



When Mr. Wade first called up the Bill, June 26, and before the 
friends had arrived., Mr. Sumner objected to its Gradual Emancipa- 
tion ^feature, and proposed to amend by substituting therefor, the 
Jeffersonian clause in the organization of the North Western Terr- 
itory, in 1787, namely : "Within the State there shall be neither 
slavery nor involuntary servitude, other than in punishment of crime 
whereof the party be convicted." It was probably this blow between 
the eyes of their fraudulent, shallow subterfuge, by Mr. Sumner, that 
pleased its originators, and encouraged the remnant passing through 
Wheeling shortly after, on their way home, to pronounce the new 
State dead. 



148 



Mr. Willey, thinking probably, that the death was too sudden, to 
look well, moved an amendment to Mr. Sumner's amendment, which 
the President pro. tern, decided was to the bill itself, and ruled it 
out of order. Thus the matter stood when I arrived, June 28. 

July 1, Mr. Willey, with Mr. Wade's consent, I presume, called 
up the Bill again, and Mr. Sumner urged the adoption of his amend- 
ment, with his usual force, to which Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire, 
happily replied. Judge Collamer, among the ablest lawyers in the 
Senate, next struck the feature that proposed to permit a new State 
to be formed, and admitted to the Union, without Congress having 
the privilege of seeing the Constitution, when formed, and deciding, 
as was its duty, whether it was republican or not. This was a stun- 
ning objection, and admitted of no answer. Mr. Collamer, at the 
same time, expressed his entire conviction that Congress had the 
right to annex conditions to its assent ; and other leading members 
concurred with him. 

Mr. Willey then offered a substitute, leaving out the additional 
Valley Counties, included in the Bill, providing, that children born of 
slaves after the fourth of July, 1863, should be free; but referred the 
ratification to the Convention to be re-convened, and not to the people, 
nor did he allude, in any form, to the informal vote in favor of Grad- 
ual Emancipation. I copy from the Globe Senator Willey's substi- 
tute, page 3036. 



"Whereas, by an act of the State of Virginia, passed May 13, 
1862, entitled "An act giving the consent of the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia to the formation and erection of a new State within the juris- 
diction of this State," the people of that part of the State of Vir- 
ginia, including the Counties of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, 
Wetzel, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor, Tyler, Pleasants, 
Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, Wood, Jackson, Wirt, Roane, Calhoun, 
Gilmer, Barbour, Tucker, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, Randolph, Mason, 
Putnam, Kanawha, Clay, Nicholas, Cabell, Wayne, Boone, Logan, 
Wyoming, Mercer, McDowell, Webster, Pocahontas, Fayette, Raleigh, 
Greenbrier, Monroe, Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan, 
did, with the consent of the Legislature of said State of Virginia, 
form themselves into an independent State, and did establish a Con- 
stitution for the government of the same. 



141) 



"West Virginia is hereby admitted into the Union on an equal 
footing with the original States in all respects whatever, and upon the 
fundamental condition that from and after the 4th day of July, 1863, 
the children of all slaves born within the limits of said State shall be 
free, and that no law shall be passed by said State by which any citi- 
zen of either of the States in this Union shall be excluded from the 
enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities to which such 
citizen is entitled under the Constitution of the United States. 

"Provided, That the Convention that ordained the Constitution as 
aforesaid, to be re-convened in the manner prescribed in the schedule 
thereto annexed, shall by a solemn public ordinance declare the 
assent of the said State to the said fundamental condition, and shall 
transmit to the President of the United States on or before the 15th 
day of November, 1862, an authentic copy of said ordinance, upon 
the receipt whereof the President by proclamation shall announce 
the fact; whereupon, and without any further proceeding on the part 
of Congress, the admission of said State into this Union shall be 
considered as complete." 

Mr. Wade admitted there was insuperable objections to the Bill as 
reported ; said "it did not receive the formal assent of the Commit- 
tee, though they thought it sufficient to bring the subject before the 
Senate." He accepted the substitute offered by Mr. Willey, and 
proposed this amendment ; "that all slaves under twenty-one years 
of age, the 4th of July, 1863, shall be free on arriving at that age." 
Mr. Willey said "he greatly preferred, if the State of West Fir- 
ginia is to be admitted, that it should be according to the Constitution, 
exactly as it had been approved by that portion of the people of Vir- 
ginia, without any condition, and without any amendment; but, sir, 
feeling that the views, sentiments, and opinions of others in this body 
are entitled to all respect, I have viewed it but right to make conces- 
sions beyond what are personally agreeable to myself, and to accept 
the proposition by way of amendment, &c." 

Mr. Carlisle, at this point, became alarmed, and began to un- 
mask. He opposed the substitute, contending the matter should be 
referred back for ratification, not only to the Convention, but to 
the people also ; and charged upon his colleague that his motive for 
withholding from the people was that he knew they would reject it ; 
and that the majority of the people did not want a new State, unless 
in the form proposed by the Constitution, or Bill, as reported ; and 



150 



that his colleague was afraid to submit the question to the people. 
Mr. Carlisle presented this point with great force and eloquence, 
.and made, apparently, a decided impression upon the Senate ; so 
much so, that the friends in the gallery sent one of their number to 
call Mr. Willey out, and urge him to so amend, as to refer the rati- 
fication to the people as well as to the Convention. This was done, 
and Mr. Willey consented to accept and substitute the Bill drawn 
by the Hon. Wm. G. Brown, of the House, with the advice of 
friends, and presented in the House as before stated. This was the 
Bill that became a law, amended in one particular only, on motion of 
.Senator Lane, of Kansas, namely, "that slaves under ten, when the 
Constitution takes effect, shall be free at the age of twenty-one, and 
.all over ten, and under twenty-one, shall become free at twenty-five." 

The amendment proposed, was assented to by Messrs. Wade and 
Willey. The amendment proposed by Mr. Sumner before stated, 
frad before this, been voted down by twenty-four to eleven ; and 
afterwards, on motion of Mr. Carlisle, to amend, so as to admit the 
.State, under the Constitution, as it came from the Convention, with- 
out any condition, it was rejected by a vote of twenty -five to eleven. 
This decided which of the parties had been right in their judgment 
in the Convention, and subsequently. For the discussion that after- 
wards occurred in the Senate, the reader is referred to the Congres- 
sional Globe, of j86i and 1862, pages 3307 to 3320— -with this one 
remark in regard to Senator Willey, and an extract from Senator 
Wade's remarks, showing his opinion of Mr. Carlisle, and how 
such a Bill came to be reported by the Territorial Committee. 

Mr. Willey, before giving his vote for the rejection of the last 
motion of Mr. Carlisle, to substitute the Constitution as it came 
from the Convention, thus remarked : "Although, as I have already 
stated, that would be more acceptable to me, yet having proposed 
the substitute in good faith, to meet my friends on the other side, I 
shall vote against the motion to strike out." 

The vote on these two questions disclosed our strength in the Sen- 
ate, when met by either of the extremes. Of course, the friends be- 
came confident of success in that body. Mr. Carlisle, however, as 
his last effort to defeat, made a vehement speech in favor of post- 
poning the matter till the first Monday of the next December. Mr. 
W illey, in his reply, seemed to have at last caught up with the ideas 
and sentiments, the loyal people of West Virginia entertained upon 



151 



the subject of gradual emancipation — ideas and sentiments that they 
had been, for nearly a year, expressing in all forms, and sought to 
have the Convention, of which he was a member, express in the 
Constitution; but were debarred by himself and confederates. But 
they did express themselves almost unanimously, on this subject by 
that separate poll, which, neither he nor his confederates had there- 
tofore deigned to notice, or allude to. Nor would Mr. Willey prob- 
ably have alluded to it, at this time, had he not found it expressly re- 
ferred to in the Bill Mr. Brown, of the House, had drawn and pre- 
sented, and which he had borrowed and used in place of his sub- 
stitute-; and thereby as appeared to friends in the gallery, saved 
himself from certain defeat in the Senate. I here insert Mr. 
Brown's Bill amended, as before stated, that became a law. 



"AN ACT FOR THE ADMISSION OF THE STATE Of WEST 
VIRGINIA INTO THE UNION, AND FOR OTHER PUR- 
POSES. 

"Whereas the people inhabiting that portion of Virginia known as 
West Virginia, did, by a Convention assembled in the city of Wheel- 
ing on the twenty-sixth of November, eighteen hundred and sixty- 
one, frame for themselves a Constitution with a view of becoming a 
separate and independent State ; and whereas at a general election 
held in the Counties composing the territory aforesaid on the third 
day of May last,- the said Constitution was approved and adopted by 
the qualified voters of the proposed State ; and whereas the Legisla- 
ture of Virginia* by an act passed on the thirteenth clay of May, 
eighteen- hundred and sixty-two, did give its consent to the formation 
of a new State within the jurisdiction of the said State of Virginia, 
to be known by the name of West Virginia, and to embrace the fol- 
lowing named Counties, to-wit : Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, 
Wetzel, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor, Tyler, Pleasants, 
Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, Wood, Jackson, Wirt, Roane, Calhoun, 
Gilmer, Barbour, Tucker, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, Randolph, r Mason, 
Putnam, Kanawha, Clay, Nicholas, Cabell, Wayne, Boone, Logan, 
Wyoming, Mercer, McDowell, Webster, Pocahontas, Fayette, 
Raleigh, Greenbrier, Monroe, Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire and 
Morgan; and whereas both the Convention and the Legislature- 



aforesaid have requested that the new Sta'e should be admitted into 
the Union, and the Constitution aforesaid being republican in form, 
Congress doth hereby consent that the said forty-eight Counties may 
be formed into a separate and independent State : Therefore, 

"Be it enacted by the- Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of 
West Virginia be, and is hereby, declared to be one of the United 
States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing 
with the original States in all respects whatever, and until the next 
general census shall be enticed to three members in the House of 
Representatives of the United States : Provided always, That this 
act shall not take effect until after the proclamation of the President 
of the United States hereinafter provided for. 

"It being represented to Congress that since the Convention of the 
twenty-sixth of November, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, that fram- 
ed and proposed the Constitution for the said State of West Virginia, 
the people thereof have expressed a wish to change the seventh sec- 
tion of the eleventh article of said Constitution by striking out the 
same and inserting the following in its place, namely : "The children 
of slaves born within the limits of this State after the fourth day of 
July, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, shall be free ; and that all 
slaves within the said State who shall, at the time aforesaid, be under 
the age of ten years, shall be free when they arrive at the age of 
twenty-one years ; and all slaves over ten and under twenty one 
years shall be free when they arrive at the age of twenty-five years ; 
and no slave shall be permitted to come into the State for permanent 
residence therein Therefore, 

"Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That whenever the people of West 
Virginia shall, through their said Convention, and by a vote to be 
taken at an election to be held within the limits of the said State, at 
such time as the Convention may provide, make, and ratify the 
change aforesaid, and properly certify the same under the hand of 
the president of the Convention, it shall be lawful for the President 
of the United States to issue his proclamation stating the fact, and 
thereupon this act shall take effect and be in force from and after 
sixty days from the date of said proclamation." 

Approved, December 31, 1862. 



153 



EXTRACT FROM THE CLOSING REMARKS OF MR. WADE, 
IN REPLY TO MR. CARLISLE'S SPEECH FOR POST- 
PONEMENT. 

"I want to say one word, and only one word, because I understand 
a motion has been made to postpone this bill until the next session. 
There is no gentleman who knows exactly when human nature is 
weak, just exactly the time to strike, like my friend from Illinois. He 
understands the weakness of human naturej and the persuasive ar- 
gument towards dinner time of a motion for delay ; and how argu- 
ments, otherwise without weight and without much reason, press upon 
men when they are pretty sure that they do no harm to anybody, 
when they have done no positive act* In accordance with our nat- 
ural indolence, such an argument is very apt to have weight, and yet 
it is the most dangerous in a legislative assembly that is €ver made. 
Nobody knows it better than my friend from Illinois. 

"Gentlemen say that I have said enough, I suppose I have, and 
am not going to say much more. Gentlemen ought not to admonish 
me much, for I believe I never make long speeches. This is a very 
easy way for us to rid ourselves of this question, but it will not be 
so satisfactory to those who feel such a vital interest in it as the peo- 
ple of West Virginia, who have sent their population here almost en 
masse to urge it upon this Congress to pass this measure and relieve 
them from the alarm that they are under in consequence of the un- 
certainty that they may be left in the hands of their enemies. That 
there is to be a separation is a foregone conclusion? and no man has 
urged it upon the Committee more strongly than the Senator who 
now opposes immediate action, [Mr. Carlisle.] He, of all the men 
in the Committee, is the man who penned all these bills and drew 
them up. He is the man who has investigated all the precedents to 
see how far you could go in this direction. It was to his lucid mind 
that we were indebted for the fact that there were no legaFor Consti- 
tutional barriers in the way of this proposition. He submitted to the 
labor j he did it cheerfully ; he did it backed by the best men of his 
State and section, and what did they say ? They said, "we cannot 
live any longer with Eastern Virginia. Independent of the great con- 
troversy that has sprung up in the nation, we have a controversy of 
old standing that renders our connection with Eastern Virginia abso- 
lutely impossible.'' Fie is the gentleman who impressed their opin 
' U " 



154 



ions upon the committee as strongly as anybody else, and what change 
has come over the spirit of his dream I know not. His conversion is 
greater than that of St. Paul. He has persuaded us that the measure 
was right ; he has appeared side by side with his able Governor, who 
urged this upon us as a measure vital to the interests of the State 
that he represents. All at once, after persuading us to bring the 
question before Congress, and when we expected bis powerful aid to 
help us to push it through, we are brought up all standing by his 
powerful opposition. Why did he write, why did he investigate, why- 
did he persuade the committee that all was right ? Why did he per- 
suade us that there was scarcely a dissenting voice in all that part of 
Virginia, if now he has discovered that k is all wrong ? Why did he 
resort to books, why did he go back to the old Missouri compromise,, 
and discover there the steps that were taken to initiate that State ? 
Why did he go back to the Rhode Island case, and to other cases,, 
and point them out to us ? No gentleman urged the measure upon 
its more strongly than he, in connection with his distinguished asso- 
ciates, he acting as their chief and their spokesman, and yet all at 
once,, when we become earnest and see that the people want this 
done, we have to encounter his violent, determined, persistent oppo- 
sition. Sir, it is sheer trifling. 

"There is no reason on God's earth why, if Western Virginia is 
ever to be a State, she should not be admitted now. The Senator 
from Illinois spoke of the present confused and turbulent state of af- 
fairs. Sir, amidst that turbulence is the very time to organize it. 
When we have lost State after State going out from the Union, and 
making war upon it, is it not good policy for us to seize upon the first 
State that offers her friendly hand to come back to us into the Union ? 
Does he want them still to go, and never to hold out encouragement 
that they shall return ? Is that good policy ? He says many States 
have gone out, and, therefore, be argues, that when they want to come 
in, we should keep the rest of them out. That is about the argument 
he has made use of. 

"If there is anything in such an argument as that, it is that this 
people, believing with us, being with us in sentiment, being with us in 
principle, being a powerful barrier between our enemies and our 
friends, should not be erected into a noble free State as a breakwater 
between the secessionists of the South and the great Northwest. Is 
there any time more favorable than this for the measure ? If all was 
calm, if all was peace, if all was just as it should be, then to tear old 



Virginia asunder might cause a commotion that would induce men to 
hesitate. Now it is one of those things that the exigencies of the 
times most eminently demand, and it does not make a ripple upon 
the waters. You can do justice now easier than you can begin to 
contemplate it in other times. Now is the time for great events, when 
you see that a commotion in the land has brought it within the com- 
pass of your power to do a great and mighty good, to perform it To 
treat the fact of that commotion as a reason why you should not do 
it, is the narrowest statesmanship in the world. Sir, this is the time 
when you can do it without exciting passion. It is a time when you 
can do ample justice to this people, for which they have been labor- 
ing for years. They have been almost the slaves of their Eastern 
oppressors, and in ordinary times we should not have the hardihood 
to do them justice. They could not appeal to us then, because there 
stood powerful Eastern Virginia with her heel upon their necks, and 
we were without the courage to help them to rectify and to adjust 
their grievances. Now things are reversed. Their long-crying griev- 
ances are at our doors, aasy to be redressed. Let us not postpone 
that redress. The task will be no lighter at the next session than 
now. Those who oppose it now will oppose it then. The whole 
subject is understood. After going as far as we have gone, to yield 
now to the argument of the Senator from Illinois would be trifling 
with the feelings and the cause of these Union men, who have sacri- 
ficed everything to maintain the integrity of the Union and maintain 
the principles which we all avow. Let us stand by them ; let us not 
be carried away by this argument and deterred from coming up to the 
work of doing justice, and doing it boldly ; not shrinking in a cow- 
ardly manner, and saying "although I see it is just, I would a little 
rather postpone it to some more convenient season." Sir, that is not 
the way for a statesman to act. That meed of justice which the exi- 
gencies of the times demand should be done here now. We are able 
to do it now. What time may bring forth we know not. It is wis- 
dom for a Legislature, when they have the justice of the case before 
them, when they have the facts before them, when they see that 
nothing but good can result, to act promptly. Nothing but mere 
cowardice will drive a man from the exercise of the godlike principle 
of justice. Let us do it now and at once ; let us reject this motion to 
postpone." 

Mr. Ten Eyck, of New Jersey, remarked as follows : 

4 '1 shall not say that I want to say only a word, but I 



ir>6 



am sure I shall not utter more than twenty words ; I just wish 
to give my reasons. This question presents two aspects, one a mat- 
ter of law, and the other a matter of policy. A year ago I voted 
with joy to admit the two Senators from Virginia to seats upon this 
floor. They had been appointed by the Legislature of Virginia, and 
this Senate recognized the legality of their appointment. The same 
power has agreed to the division of the State. I apprehend the 
Senate by the vote which it gave on that occasion has fixed the legal- 
ity of the action of the . Legislature of Virginia. That settles the 
legal question. 

"Now, with regard to the policy. I understand and believe that a 
vast majority of the people of Western Virginia are looking here 
with tears in their eyes, if men shed tears, anxiously hoping that 
Western Virginia will be admitted as a State. I am not willing to 
postpone, and run the risk of having the whole oi Virginia, by their 
Legislature, when this rebellion shall have been .crushed out, repeaL 
this act, and subjecting the free people, the freedom-disposed people 
of Western Virginia, to any further dictation and tyranny exercised 
over them by the people of Eastern Virginia. Having said thus 
much, I shall vote against the proposition to postpone. 

"The Presiding Officer. The question is on the motion of the 
Senator from Virginia, to postpone the further consideration of the 
bill until the first Monday of December next. 

"The question being taken by yeas and nays, resulted — yeas, 17, 
nays, 23 ; as follows : 

"YEAS — Messrs. Bayard, Browning, Carlisle, Chandler, Cowan, 
Davis, Doolittle, Howard, Kennedy, King, Powell, Saulsbury, Stark, 
Sumner, Trumbull, Wilson, of Missouri, and Wright — 17. 

"NAYS — Messrs. Clark, Collamer, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, 
Hale, Harlan, Harris, Henderson, Howe, Lane, of Indiana, Lane, of 
Kansas, McDougall, Morrill, Pomeroy, Sherman, Simmons, Ten 
Eyck, Wade, Wilkinson, Willey, and Wilson, of Massachusetts — 23. 

"So the motion to postpone did not prevail." 

The following were the yeas and nays on the final passage of the 
Bill by the Senate. (July 14.) 

"YEAS — Messrs. Anthony, Clark, Collamer, Fessenden, Foot, Fos- 
ter, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Howe, Lane, of Indiana, Lane, of 
Kansas, Morrill, Pomeroy, Rice, Sherman, Simmons, Ten Eyck, 
Wade, Wilkinson, Willey, and Wilson, of Massachusetts — 23. 



157 



"NAYS — Messrs. Bayard, Browning, Carlisle, Chandler, Cowan, 
Davis, Howard,, Kennedy, King, McDougall, Powell, Saulsbury, 
Stark, Sumner, Trumbull, Wilson, of Missouri, and Wright — 17. 

"So the Bill was passed." 

It was a Triumph, considering all the untoward circumstances — 
with Messrs. Sumner and Trumbull, among the recognized leaders 
of the Republican party in the Senate — the most active and uncom- 
promising opposers. 

It is proper here to mention who were our active and efficient 
friends in the Senate. First and foremost was Mr. Wade, the 
champion of the measure in the Senate. His most efficient co-work- 
ers were Senators Collamer, of Vermont, Hale, of New Hampshire, 
Fessenden, of Maine, Ten Eyck, of New Jersey, Pomeroy and 
Lane, of Kansas, and Wilkinson, of Minnesota. What were the 
personal feelings and the aid the two Virginia Senators gave the 
measure, 1 shall leave the reader to infer from the facts before stated 
■ — whether they really, in this matter, worked for the Rebel portion of 
the State, or the Loyal portion, whose votes elected them — whether 
the Amendment finally adopted should not be called the Wm. G. 
Brown, or some other, rather than the "Willey Amendment 1" — 
as subsequently christened by his friends, and by himself, with the 
honors and emoluments, unblushingly appropriated. Tke true ex- 
planation, I think, to be this : Mr. Willey was a prominent Class | 
Leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church, North, which, at that 
time, had, and I think deserredly, great influence in the State of West 
Virginia. 

The following just tribute of gratitude and respect to Senator Wade 
for his invaluable services in behalf of the new State, appeared in the 
Wheeling Intelligencer, of the 21st July, 1862 : 

"The Hon. Benjamin F. Wade and his lady passed via the Balti- 
more and Ohio Railroad on their way home Saturday morning. He 
chose this route for the purpose of seeing something of the scenery, 
land and people of West Virginia, whose cause he advocated with so 
much ability and zeal in Congress. We hope he found and will 
hereafter find them worthy of his noble and patriotic exertions in 
their behalf. He had promised, if time permitted, to pass by, and 
stop a short time in, Wheeling, where the people were prepared and 



158 

anxious to award the gratitude and honor he so richly merits at their 
hands. He, however, crossed the river at Ben wood and proceeded 
homeward. To merit the approval and gratitude of a just and loyal 
people seems to content him." 



The friends, though filled with despondency when they went to 
Washington, returned with hearts full of gratitude and hope ; and 
still all hope for a new State depended upon the National Govern- 
ment subduing the Rebellion. Congress, at that session, had called 
for 300,000 additional volunteers. West Virginia, no less than Ohio 
and other loyal States, was expected to raise her quota. In this work 
the loyal people, both sides of the river, acted in concert, as they had 
been doing before. It was about this time, that General M'Clellan's 
army returned from the Chicahominy, and the second Bull Run de- 
feat, under General Pope, occurred, and General Lee was marching 
his victorious army into Maryland and Pennsylvania ; but whom, 
subsequently, our army, under General M'Clellan, repulsed and 
sent back, at the battle of Antietam. Union men were desponding 
and depressed, and the disloyal were correspondingly exultant. It 
was at this juncture I had the honor to submit the following remarks, 
at a meeting of Union people, from both sides of the Ohio River, 
August 5, 1862 : 

Fellow Citizens : The Government, our great and good mother, 
is stretching out her arms for the aid, in some form, of all her loyal 
children, to rescue her from the bloody grasp of most cruel and 
unnatural parricides. 

It is natural for our people, before engaging in any work, however 
urgent, to wish to understand the nature and extent of it ; whether 
there are adequate means to carry it through, and the chance of 
final success. 

This is right, and speaks well for our people ; for whatever is un- 
dertaken with deliberation is most likely to be prosecuted with vigor 
and success. Before responding to this call therefore — though made 
by one whose beneficent and maternal care all have enjoyed, and 
must acknowledge, it is well to understand the present condition of 
the Rebellion we are called upon to suppress, the relative strength 
of the contending parties, the progress that has already been made 



159 



in the work, and the chance of final success. These enquiries I 
will endeavor to answer : 

The raising of 75,000 volunteers for three months, and the signal! 
service they rendered the country, are known to all. Five hundred 
thousand were then called upon to enlist for the term of three years,, 
or during the war. These were promptly obtained, armed and 
equipped. The Government up to this day has issued its bonds to 
the amount of about $500,000,000, which are now above par in the 
market. 

The eleven Rebel States, Virginia East of the Alleghanies, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee, according to the census 
of i860, contained 5,240,250 white, and 3,500,658 slave population. 
The border slave States, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, 
and West Virginia, contained at the same time 3,043,449 white, and 
437,841 slave population. More than half as many white population 
as the eleven rebel States. 

These five border slave States have heretofore furnished more 
soldiers to the loyal than the disloyal army, and have now almost 
entirely ceased to furnish soldiers to the latter, while they respond 
with alacrity to the recent call of the President, and promise their 
respective quotas as soon as the free States. Tennessee, North 
Carolina, and others of the eleven rebel States, have responded to 
the call, and are in a fair way to furnish the quotas demanded. So 
stands the strength of the Government in the Slave States to-day. 

The nineteen Free States had by the census of i860, 19,169,147. 
Over nineteen million of white population. One-fifth at least are 
"able bodied" fighting men — or four millio7i — and the 16,000,000 of 
men, Women and children that will form the reserve at home, after 
the 4,000,000 men have gone to the field, will be efficient producers* 
all accustomed to work with their own hands, and can produce enough 
to support themselves and supply this immense army in the field with 
all that may be needed, and feed all the want-of-cotton-starving 
people of the old world at the same time. And this without taking 
into consideration the five Border States, which may safely be consid- 
ered as unalterably attached to the loyal side. 

Allowing to the enemy the same proportion of able-bodied fighting 
men, he will be able to bring into the field but one million, or one 
fourth our number, and have a reserve of white people at home of 



160 

only four million, men, women, and children ; and these unused io 
work with their own hands, but educated to regard all manual labor 
as dishonorable, and accustomed from childhood to depend upon the 
slaves. What a reserve of producers ! If deprived of their slaves, 
how can they support themselves, and much less their army in the 
field ? Why, the other day one of the F. F. V.'s in making a last 
and irresistable appeal, as she supposed, to General Veile at Nor- 
folk, for the return of her slave, exhibited to him her delicate hands, 
roughened and soiled somewhat by household labor — -but it was with- 
out success. Such casualties must serve to dampen the zeal of the 
would-be Dutch esses of the South. 

By the recent Act of Congress the President is authorized, and it 
is made his duty, to seize ail slaves of Rebels when it shall weaken 
the enemy, or strengthen the Government, and employ them in arms, 
in cultivating the fields, in digging entrenchments, in menial service 
about the camp, or otherwise, as the exigencies of the war may re- 
quire; and as an encouragement to fidelity and industry, all such with 
their mothers, wives and children, are to become at once and forever 
free, and receive compensation for their labor. This Law if faithfully 
carried out by the President and his Generals, will very soon deprive 
the enemy of all his Slave labor, of any value, and transfer it to our 
side. What a difference this will make in the military strength of the 
contending parties, if wisely managed by the Administration ! And 
if not so managed by the present servants of the people, the people 
will find other servants who will faithfully execute their will. The 
capabilities of our loyal people have, as yet, been but slightly tested ; 
nor will it be prudent for any man, the President himself, to create the 
exigency that shall demand a full exercise of these capabilities. 

Recent acts of Congress have also authorized the President to en- 
list for three years, or during the war, 300,000 additional volunteers ; 
also to fill up the old Regiments, and accept, if required, 100,000 
additional volunteer infantry for nine months — and, if found necessary 
to crush the Rebellion, to call out the entire militia of the country — - 
making in all an army of four million men — by far the largest army 
ever known, and capable, under the management of competent com- 
manders, of crushing the present Rebellion to powder, and repelling 
from our shores, both England and France combined. 

But how for money — -you will ask — which is "the sinew of war.'' 
The same Congress has appropriated $800,000,000 — eight hundred 
million doHars — to defray the expenses. 



161 



We have a powerful Navy; we have the Government of Washington 
of 86 years standing, known and respected throughout the world, and 
enjoying to-day friendly relations with all nations. The head of no 
Government before, whether Republican or Monarchial, possessed 
such ample and complete war means and powers. Our own work- 
shops and the work-shops and ports of all nations are open to us ; 
and our bills of credit are commanding a premium throughout the 
Free States, Europe, and lately in Richmond, the Capital of the 
bogus Government 

How stands the enemy ? His bastard Government is not 
acknowledged by any power on earth. He possesses no Navy ; but 
very few artisans or work-shops, and is cut off from all communica- 
tion and succor with the world by our powerful blockade ; without 
money and without credit. Thus stands the contending parties 
to-day. 

How stood they when the enemy commenced the war by fifing on 
Sumpter ? He assumed to tear off more than half of our entire 
territory, to rend asunder, as suited himself, what the hand of the 
Almighty had woven into one indissoluble w f eb, by its Rivers, Moun- 
tains, Marts, climate and productions ; by all its geographical and 
physical features. He seized all arms, munitions of war and money, 
which were, or had been transferred by Buchanan, Floyd <k Co., 
while in possession of the Government, to within the limits of their 
anticipated Eldorado ; all Forts and Arsenals; all Vessels, public 
and private, and all public property of whatever kind ; confiscated 
debts due to northern men to the amount of $150,000,000, and all 
property of loyal men, whether living within or without the limits of 
"Dixie," and without excepting the fee simple I Also the most ex- 
perienced Army and Navy Officers— and then quite complaisantly 
said — "let us alone." This reminds one of that other personage, 
who having plundered the houses of the living, and desecrated the 
sepulchres of the dead, "adjured" our blessed Savior "to let him 
alone, what have we to do with thee?" For it was the Devils that 
spoke, and they were legion. But our Savior cast them- out, and 
sent them into the herd of swine, which ran down a steep place into 
the Sea, and perished by the waves ; that is the swine, vnd not the 
Devils, for they are alive now, and as busy at work in the Rebels as 
they were 1800 years ago in that man, or the swine. Let us give 
them another cooling off in the Gulf of Mexico, not through so- 
V 



1(32 



worthy a medium as swine, but their more congenial media, rattle- 
snakes and copperheads. 

Breckenridge, Bright, and a host of other traitors retained their 
seats in Congress to watch, spy, and throw off the line, whenever 
their bullrush bottom would float, with its cargo of human bondage, 
bedecked with stars, garters, and diadems. But the new Officers of 
Government detected the character and intent of the craft, withheld 
the papers, and lashed it with chains to its moorings. BreckenrI'DGE 
and Company were sent to "Dixie but left others who are perform- 
ing the same duty. Those also will have to take their departure be- 
fore long, and the entire cargo as above described will most likely 
perish. 

What has Mr. Lincoln done since he came into power? He has 
raised and equipped an army of 600,000 or 700,000 men. Created 
a powerful Navy, suited both for Sea and Rivers, established a legal 
blockade from the Delaware Bay to the mouth of the Rio^ Grande — 
more than 2,500 miles of Sea coast ; 5-6 of our entire Atlantic coast, 
which the enemy modestly propose to take, leaving to the 20,000,000 
Free State people the remaining one-sixth ! 

We have effectually blockaded about as many miles as' the entire- 
Atlantic Coast of all Europe combined ; retaken nearly all the Forts- 
and Arsenals along this extent of Coast, and all the. cities and ports 
of entry, including Norfolk, Portsmouth, and New Orleans ; re-open- 
ed the great highways of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, 
and retaken the principal cities thereon ; repossessed Missouri, Ken- 
tucky, and West Virginia; silenced forever the copperheads of 
Maryland; repossessed large portions of North Carolina, South Car- 
olina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee; now 
command most of his great lines of Railroads ; replaced the glorious 
old Flag on the soil of every State, and are slowly but surely con- 
tracting around Richmond with an anaconda's gripe. 

All this has been done in sixteen months. It is herculean work I 
Unexampled progress ! considering the total unpreparedness of the 
Government when Mr. Lincoln took hold. 

But there have been some reverses ; and because of these our peo- 
ple seem to lose heart, and complain. This is weak and querulous,, 
not to say impious — showing not only a want of proper appreciations 
of the vastly superior means placed in our power, but a want of 
proper confidence in Him our Fathers looked to, when they founded 



the Republic — amidst the greatest deprivations and sufferings — and 
upon resigning the things of this world, piously commended the great 
trust with ourselves to His benign care. We have no right to expect 
ourselves, or our agents to be exempt from the imperfections of our 
nature. Reverses have always been incident to human warfare. 
Look at the world's greatest captains— to Alexander, Hannibal, 
Cesar, and Napoleon the First, The Conqueror of Italy and half 
the world marches his victorious army of 350,000 men to the con- 
quest of Russia. He thinks of nothing but success. He enters 
Moscow expecting to spend a comfortable winter, and commence a 
victorious campaign in the Spring. Nor are his hopes shaken until 
with utter surprise and dismay* he sees the whole city "one vast 
ocean of flame J" — kindled and spread by its own inhabitants. Such 
personal sacrifice had not entered into his calculations, and all his 
bright hopes were in a moment dashed to the ground. 

Nothing has occured with us that should, for a moment, discourage 
a brave people, engaged in so holy a cause, and possessed of such 
superior means — only arouse ourselves to the great exigency, and 
make the proper use of those means, and our Father's God will be 
with us, and speedy and complete success is as mathematically cer- 
tain as it is in His economy, that Right shall triumph over Wrong, 
Truth over Error, or that ten pounds will outweigh one. 

It cannot be disguised, however, that in one particular the policy 
on which the war has been conducted during the last six months, has 
been wrong, and at variance with all experience and the obvious laws 
which govern our nature. Everybody of ordinary intelligence must 
have understood the nature of this Rebellion, and the fixed purpose 
of a large majority of those engaged in it, more than six months 
ago ; and if the object of the administration has been to subdue it 
and vindicate the Government, it has employed some means obvious- 
ly calculated to produce the opposite result There has been no 
room to doubt, during the last six months, but that the present Re- 
bellion is the consummation of a conspiracy, that has existed for 
thirty years or more, to break up the Government and establish a 
monarchy on its ruins ; or, failing to establish an independent mon- 
archy, to transfer all the slave territory, to the rule, and protection, 
as Colonies or Provinces, of England and France; and as a condition 
for their gracious protection, the leaders have voluntarily offered to 
abolish slavery within their borders. Sixteen months ago these 
conspirators threw off' the mask — threw down the Gauntlet by com- 



164 

mencing war in the most savage manner and defiant tone — Was there 
any excuse for the administration withholding its deadliest blows any 
longer than to gather sufficient power, learn the position and pur- 
pose of the monster, and his vulnerable points ? There was none. 
Sympathy with the enemy, or extreme imbecility, could alone longer 
have withheld the blow, and to one or the other of these causes every 
loyal mind will ascribe all attempts afterwards to conciliate these pre- 
meditated traitors of thirty years standing. To crush an enemy and 
sustain one's self, is the first and universally recognized rule of all 
earnest warfare. Whoever annexes a condition of any kind to the 
maintenance and full vindication of the Government, be that condi- 
tion the perpetuity or abolishment of Slavery, or any other thing, is 
disloyal, and disloyalty in any degree, at this time, is treason. We 
cannot serve heaven and hell at the same time. Whoever counsels 
peace, or dissuades enlistsments of volunteers, or proposes the or- 
ganization of an anti-war party, or proposals for compromise, so 
long as the enemy is unrelentant and defiant — is a traitor, whatever he 
professes, and should be promptly dealt with as such. 

I have always been a democrat, first voted for General Jackson at 
his second election ; was the supporter of Judge Douglass, have al- 
ways been for letting Slavery alone in the States, and for faithfully 
executing the fugitive slave law, as our Fathers intended. I went as 
far as the farthest to effect an honorable compromise, and would then 
have accepted the Crittenden resolutions for the sake of peace, fore- 
seeing as I thought I did, the terrible conflict that would ensue, in 
case of a resort to arms. New facts have since developed which 
have entirely changed my mind. I am now for war in its sternest 
and most terrible aspect ; so terrible that before it all ordinary ter- 
rors shall tremble and quake. Motives of true humanity dictate this 
severity. The enemies of the Government can only be subdued by 
terror, and the quicker, and more overwhelming that terror, the soon- 
er the Government will be vindicated, and the war cease. 

The Administration has changed its policy. The President mvst 
come up to the full exercise of the powers the recemt Congress has 
placed in his hands. If he fails or falters, the people who are the 
legitimate owners of this Government, will put some one in his place, 
who will execute their will. We must dash to pieces the Slave Olig- 
archs, "with face of brass and feet of clay," and strip them of all 
their possessions, and show their utter nothingness to the minds of 
their ignorant and deluded followers, and thereby break forever the 



165 

spell that has bound them ; and these deluded followers will soon 
come to regard our government as omnipotent, grand, and dazzling, 
and seek shelter beneath its Flag. Such will necessarily be the ef- 
fect of that sort of action, upon their ignorant and deluded minds ; 
whilst the opposite course, the course heretofore pursued by the ad- 
ministration, only confirms the leading traitors in their own conceits 
and assumed superiority, establishes more firmly their infallibility in 
the minds of their deluded followers, and brings the Government and 
loyal army into universal contempt. 

The people have decreed that the future policy shall be no protec- 
tion, but death and utter destruction to all premeditated traitors, 
whether open or disguised. Seize and confiscate everything belong- 
ing to them, to support the Government and army, and remunerate 
loyal men. 

Thus stands the work you are called upon to help finish, the vast- 
ly superior means and resources of the Government, and the policy 
that is to govern future action. 

Nor has our great and good mother as yet commanded you to come 
to her aid, although she might with justice demand it of all her 
children, considering how much she has done for them. But with 
her accustomed benevolence she entreats you to come, and at the 
same time offers to pay your board and travelling expenses from the 
time of enlistment, $13 with $3,50 for clothing — -$16,50 per month; 
$100 bounty, $25 of which with $13 of first month's wages — $38 
she pays in advance; and the balance of the cash bounty, $75 and 
160 acres of land at $1,25 per acre the Government price — $200, 
you will receive when honorably discharged, and in case of death 
these bounties, and any wages in arrear, go to your family or legal 
representatives. This is equal to $500 a year, or forty-one dollars 
and 66 2-3 cents a month, and found in everything except clothing — 
assuming the Rebellion to be crushed in one year from the time of 
your enlistment. 

Besides, our soldiers are better clothed and equipped, better fed 
and housed, better doctored and nursed, and better cared for in every 
respect, than the soldiers of any other government in ancient or mod- 
ern times. Not only our own citizens but foreigners attest to this 
fact. 

But you must bear in mind that if you disregard her magnificent 
bounties, she can be as terrible in the exercise of her mighty power 



166 



as she is mild and beneficent in her entreaties. She will draft. She 
will compel ; and how will he feel who shall hold back until drafted 
.and compelled to go, without any bounty of either money or land ; 
without any credit for patriotism, gratitude, or manly courage ; with- 
out the sympathy or respect of his government, townsman or neigh- 
bors ; or woman, who always loves and adores patriotic devotion and 
noble daring — or of your gallant volunteer comrades upon the tented 
field ! Sad and desolate indeed must be his heart, if he can be 
supposed to possess any. 1 entreat you, my young countrymen, for 
the sake of your own peace of mind, honor, and happiness, not to 
suffer it. No man with an American heart will suffer it 

You should also remember that it is to sustain our brave country- 
men who have volunteered before you, and to guard and hold the 
vast tracts of country, cities, towns, forts, and arsenals that their 
valor has already conquered from the enemy, you are wanted mainly 
for now. 

You should also remember that the land, which we have been 
accustomed in former days derisively to call "sacred," has now be- 
come so indeed by the graves of those we loved. Shall their deaths 
go unavenged ? Shall the land that holds their cherished forms, and 
which has drank, and become fattened with their precious blood, pass 
forever under the rule of Traitors, who will desecrate their graves, 
mock and jeer, as has been their savage custom, over their sacred 
relics ! The spirits of the recent heroic dead, the spirits of the 
great Founders and former Defenders of the Republic, oppressed 
humanity everywhere, and God himself — all watching our every 
thought and action in this great crisis— forbid it ! and the Goddess of 
Liberty, hunted from every other spot by accursed tyrants, if we 
suffer her to be driven from this, the last of her earthly temples — 
will take flight to heaven, and bid farewell forever, to earth and to 
man ! 

The Almighty has placed the amplest means in our power to ac- 
complish these great ends. Shall we prove craven and recreant ? 
The enemy, having conceived his immense scheme of rebellion, like 
his great prototype, the Archfiend, in ambition, in a spirit to "rule or 
ruin," must end in a like fate. He has practised every crime and 
violated every law, human and divine, in sustaining so far his great 
antagonism — and has reached his highest point of strength. He 
can never become stronger, except through our dastardly in- 
action. One more such wave from the Fiee States, as the 



167 



gallant three hundred thousand will give him, and he is -swept 
from, the earth. He foresees the consequence, and is now laboring 
throughout the Free States, by such emissaries as Vallandigham, 
Olds, Carlisle and. their like to prevent it Shall he succeed? 
The 15th of this month the chance for volunteering ceases, and 
Drafting must supply the deficiency. Be quick then my valiant 
countrymen to enroll your names among the brave and gallant volun- 
teers for the defense, of the American Union. That great Roll of Un- 
ion Volunteers, which will also bear your names, will be deposited 
among the Archives of the nation, and cherished as sacredly by a 
grateful country, as the Declaration of Independence ; and the names- 
it bears will become as immortal. Those on the one as the Foun- 
ders, and those on the other as the Preservers, of American Liberty ! 

The desire, then, of large pecuniary gain with true Glory and Hon- 
or, instead .-of shame and disgrace; of a speedy and complete vindica- 
tion of the best government the sun ever shone on; of inflicting 
condign punishment upon the blackest of traitors, and avenging the 
blood of fallen brothers and heroes, with the perpetuation of civ ? I 
and religious liberty to man on earth— invite you to enroll your names 
now. You cannot be deaf to all these appeals. 

West Virginia, no less than Ohio, furnished promptly the quota 
assigned for her, of the 300,000 additional troops. 

The second Tuesday of December following (being the 9th)) the 
Senate Bill that passed that Body the July previous, became the or- 
der of the day in the House at Washington. On that same day the 
Legislature of the re-organized Government of Virginia at Wheeling,, 
that was so averse to annexing a gradual Emancipation clause to its 
consent the May before, being convened in extra session, passed the 
following joint resolution, copies of which were sent to our Represen- 
tatives in Congress : 

"Joint Resolution requesting the House of Representatives of the- 
United States to take up and pass without amendment, the bill for 
the 1 admission^ of the State of West Virginia, passed by the United 
States Senate on the 10th of July last. Passed December 9, 1862. 

"Resolved, That feeling the greatest anxiety and interest in the 
successful issue of the movement for a, new State in West Virginia,. 



168 

we earnestly request the House of Representatives of the United 
States to take up and pass, without alteration or amendments, the 
bill which passed the Senate of the United States on the ioth of 
July last." 

It was a new cause of gratulation to the friends to see this Body, 
though at the "eleventh hour," like some Virginia Congressmen, wak- 
ing up to a just sense of the situation, and importance of the measure. 

The Hon. William G. Brown opened the Debate by an accurate 
and lucid statement of the material facts. A lively discussion en- 
sued, in which Messrs. Conway of Kansas, Dawes of Massachusetts, 
Segar of Virginia, and Crittenden of Kentucky, were the principal 
speakers, in opposition. The main objection urged by the first, who 
at that early day with Mr. Stevens and a few others, had espoused 
the theory of State annihilation — was, that all State Government in 
Virginia had ceased, and she had become simply Federal territory. 
The others contended that the Legislature at Wheeling that had con- 
sented to the erection of a New State, was not the constitutional Leg- 
islature of Virginia — as only a minority of her People had a voice in 
re-organizing the Government ; and that the glorious Old Dominion 
ought not to be divided under such circumstances. 

The principal speakers in favor* besides Mr. Brown, were Messrs. 
Blair of Virginia, Colfax of Indiana, Stevens of Pennsylvania, Ed- 
wards of New Hampshire, Olin of New York, Sheffield of Rhode 
Island, Noel of Missouri, Maynard of Tennessee, Hutchins and 
Bingham of Ohio — the latter having charge of the Bill. 

The Debate continued for two days ; but as I have given only the 
points of objection by the opposition, I shall give only the remarks 
of Mr. Bingham, who closed the debate, with the result ; and refer 
the reader to the Congressional Globe of 1862-3 from page 37 to 
page 59, for the arguments pro and con, Whoever will take the 
trouble to read the arguments and facts adduced on that occasion, 
will not I think wonder at the result. 



MR. BINGHAM'S SPEECH, CLOSING THE DEBATE. 

"It seems to me, Mr. Speaker, that if the House were to adopt the 
position which has been assumed by some of the gentlemen of this 
body who have opposed this bill with great earnestness, that all 



169 



seeming and alleged constitutional difficulty to the admission of this 
State of West Virginia would vanish at once. The position, which 
has more than once been assumed in this debate, that there is no 
State there, but that what was once the State of Virginia is now only 
a Territory of the United States, within the limits of a former State 
organization, relieves this House of all constitutional difficulties upon 
the question of the admission of a new State organized therein. Sir, 
it is too late for any man in the American Congress to rise in his 
place and say that before the people of any Territory of the United 
States can organize and establish a Constitution and form of govern- 
ment, preparatory to admission into the Union as a State, an "enab- 
ling act" of Congress is necessary. There are too many States rep- 
resented upon this floor, and in the Union to-day, which were organ- 
ized into States and admitted as such by Congress without the author- 
ity of any enabling act, to admit of any such position being maintain- 
ed in this House. If no State formed or organized within the Terri- 
tory of the United States, could be admitted into the Union without 
the previous authority of an "enabling act," what becomes to-day of 
the Representatives upon this floor, and upon the floor of the Senate, 
from the State of Michigan ? There was no enabling act there. The 
people, in the exercise of their inherent power to form their own 
local government, organized for themselves within that Territory a 
form of State government, by the adoption of a written Constitution, 
sent it to the Congress of the United States for their approval, and 
which approval was all that was needful to give full and legal effect 
to their act. 

"The whole question which has been brought into this debate touch- 
ing the necessity of an "enabling act" was, upon the application of 
Michigan for admission into the Union as a new State, ably discussed 
and fully and carefully considered in the Twenty-Fourth Congress. 
There was first on that occasion, if I recollect aright, the opinion of 
the Attorney General that no such act was needful, and which recited 
the precedent of Tennessee, which had been admitted as a new State 
without such an "enabling act." The question was brought to the 
consideration of the House and the Senate, and, after an exhaustive 
debate, a direct vote was taken upon it whether the new State could 
be organized and admitted into the Union without a previous "enab- 
ling act." If any one will consult the record of that vote in the 
Twenty-Fourth Congress upon the admission of Michigan, he will 
find that it was decided by a very strong majority in favor of the 

vv 



right of the people to frame for themselves a State Constitution and 
Government preparatory to admission as a State into the Union 
without a previous "enabling act." This right of the people can no 
more be taken from them by Congress than can the right ol petition^ 
It was because this right is inherent in the people of every national 
Territory that Michigan was admitted as a new State into the Unions 
against the objection that there was no "enabling act." 

"I might go further in this connection, and remark that in the in- 
stance of the State of Michigan, while it was yet a Territory of the 
United States, and before admission by Congress into the Union as 
a State, the Constitution which the people had adopted was pwt into 
operation ; the people under it organized their courts of justice, and 
assumed to exercise, and did exercise, the highest powers of sover- 
eignty — the powers of legislation. Congress, by the act of admis- 
sion, gave effect not only to their Constitution, but, by relation, gave 
legal effect and validity to all that had been clone by that people 
under their new Constitution. With such a precedent unchallenged 
to this day no further word need be said in support of the proposi- 
tion for which I contend, that the people of any Territory of the 
United States may, without an enabling act of Congress, frame for 
themselves a Constitution and State Government, and be thereby, 
with the consent of Congress, admitted as a State into the Union. 

"What, then, becomes of the objection to the admission ©f the new 
State of West Virginia, because there was no enabling act,, if, as the 
objector asserts, Virginia is to-day only a Territory? Why, sir, if 
Virginia is only a United States Territory, it results that the people 
of that Territory, who apply for admission into the Union under a 
Constitution adopted by themselves, are exercising only the right of 
petition — a right which no man can question. If the fact be as as- 
serted, then the only question for this House to determine is, not 
whether it is Constitutional, but is it expedient to grant the prayer of 
the petition, and thereby give effect and validity to their Constitution. 
There is the end of the argument, so far as the Constitutionality of 
that question is involved, if we adopt the assumption that Virginia is 
but a Territory of the United States. 

"I think it proper, before proceeding to consider the weightier 
questions which have been raised here, to notice the objections made 
by the Representative from the Accomac district, (Mr. Segar,; who 
has just taken his seat. His argument, in my judgment, was a felo 
de se — a self-destroyer. In one breath he says that the Convention 



171 



which met at Wheeling was a Constitutional Convention, and the 
Legislature there assembled a Constitutional Legislature ; in the 
next breath he denies that these bodies are Constitutional or legal 
bodies. If it be the Constitutional Legislature of the State of Vir- 
ginia which assembled at Wheeling, then it had the power to provide, 
as it did provide, for the action of the people touching the adoption 
or rejection of this Constitution, and the organization of this propos- 
ed new State within the limits of Virginia. And yet the gentleman, 
further on in his speech, came to the conclusion that this legislative 
body at Wheeling was informal; that it was unconstitutional ; that it 
was tyrannical and oppressive ; and he asks this House to interpose 
its shield between the outraged people of Virginia and this tyranny. 
A Constitutional Legislature who, by a Constitutional act, authorized 
the people to vote for or against a Constitution framed by their own 
delegates to enable them, if they see fit, to organize for themselves 
a new State, and to petition the Congress of the United States for its 
admission into the Union, a tyrannical body ! 

"It is the first time I have ever heard a Representative upon this 
floor venture so far as to say that an act authorized by the Federal 
Constitution, and within the express reserved rights of the people of 
every State, is an act of tyranny. The gentleman says that in the 
Convention which convened the Legislature of Virginia, eleven of 
the Counties within the proposed State were not represented. What 
of that ? Does the gentleman mean to say that it makes invalid all 
that has been done under that Convention ? Let him remember, if 
he pleases, when he makes an argument of that sort, that that Con- 
vention, which was an original act of sovereignty of the people them- 
selves in Virginia, appointed the very Governor of Virginia under 
whose proclamation he ventured to become a candidate for a seat in 
this House, and under whose certificate he ventured to present him- 
self here for admission. He cannot be allowed to blow hot and cold 
in this way upon a question of this sort. If the Convention was in- 
valid, then their appointment of a Governor was invalid, and his 
proclamation for the election, under which the gentleman claimed his 
seat, was also invalid. The election proclamation of Governor Pier- 
pont, if I recollect the record aright, was issued before the people 
of Virginia were permitted to speak by ballot on the question wheth- 
er Governor Pierpont should be their executive or not. It was the 
act of the Convention itself that appointed the Governor of Virginia 
under whose proclamation the gentleman was elected ; of that very 



172 



Convention which the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Segar) stands 
here this day to repudiate. 

"There was one other objection in the gentleman's argument — if 
it may be called an argument — which I desire to notice, and that 
was that there was not a sufficient number of votes given at the elec- 
tion to justify the House in concluding that this Constitution is the 
act of the people. . It is the first time, I may be permitted to say, 
that I have heard any man say that the neglect or refusal to vote of 
part of those duly qualified to vote invalidates an election which in 
other respects is legal. If that were so, then it would be impossible 
for the people in the State of Virginia, as long as these rebels choose 
to remain rebels, to reassert their rights. As to the way in which 
the minority may assert their rights against a majority of rebels, I 
shall have something to say hereafter. 

"If the gentleman honestly entertains the view of the subject which 
he has expressed, and to which I have just referred, that an election 
legally held is made invalid because the great majority of the voters 
choose not to attend and vote, then with what propriety did the 
gentleman come here from a district in which there are fifteen or 
twenty thousand voters, backed by the pitiful vote of only twenty- 
five citizens, and ask a seat upon this floor ? (Laughter.) ,,A man 
capable of playing that role might be capable of betraying in his 
place, after he is admitted, the reserved rights of the people whom 
he represents. 

"Mr. Speaker, I come now to the other question that has been 
raised in this debate. No one could be more surprised than I was 
to see the venerable gentleman from Kentucky, (Mr. Crittenden,) 
upon whose head time, with its frosty fingers, has scattered the snows 
of more than seventy winters, and who, for nearly half a century of 
public service, has had so much of opportunity to learn the true 
theory of our Government, come here and ignore its very first prin- 
ciples altogether ; and that, too, in the teeth of his own manly utter- 
ances made no longer ago than at the last session of this House. 
He uttered a great truth at the last session, in speaking of the reserv- 
ed rights of the people of Virginia, when he said that the Conven- 
tion of that people to re-organize their State government was an or- 
iginal act of sovereignty. It has always been so held. The very 
Constitution under which the American Union exists this day ; the 
very Constitution under which every Representative upon this floor 



173 

holds his seat this day, came to be by virtue of that original sover- 
eignty in the people which they have not surrendered, which they 
could not surrender if they would, and which they should not surren- 
der if they could. There is not a man familiar with the history of 
this Government but knows the fact that the Constitution of the 
United States was formed and ratified by the people, and put into 
full operation and effect in direct violation of the written compact 
between the several States of the Confederacy. By what authority ? 
Let him who is called "the father of the Constitution" answer that 
question himself. 

"When the Constitution was on trial for its deliverance before the 
American people, the enemies of that great instrument pointed to the 
fact that if it were adopted, it would be adopted in direct contraven- 
tion of the written compact of perpetual union between the thirteen 
States ; because it was provided in the instrument itself that the rati- 
fication of nine States, no matter if every man in the four remaining 
States protested against it, should give effect to the instrument, and 
make it the supreme law, to the entire exclusion of every provision 
of the Confederation within the limits of the States adopting it. The 
question was asked, how can you abrogate the compact without the 
consent of all the parties to it ? What was the answer to this ques- 
tion given by Madison, and addressed to the listening people of all 
the States of the Confederacy who were about to pronounce judg- 
ment upon the Constitution ? He said : 

"The question is answered at once by recurring to the absolute ne- 
cessity of the case, to the great principle of self-preservation, to the 
transcendent law of nature and cf nature's God, which declares that 
the safety and happiness of society are the objects at which all political 
institutions aim, and to which all such institutions must be sacrificed." 

"And thus was the question raised by the enemies of the Constitu- 
tion answered ; and by acting upon the great principle of "self-pres- 
ervation," the people ordained the Constitution and superseded the 
Confederation. 

"There is nothing in the Federal Constitution to take away or limit 
this right of self-preservation in the people ; nor is there anything in 
that instrument that is contravened by this action of the people of 
Virginia. Need I stand here to argue that there is not one line or 
letter in the Federal Constitution that pretends to grant any power 
to the people of any State to organize a State government for them- 



174 



selves, especially the original States ? Their State governments ex- 
isted before the Constitution was made ; they continued after the 
Constitution was made — not by the grant of the Constitution, but by 
the inherent power of the people themselves, a power which they 
have never surrendered, and which they can never surrender. No 
truer utterance was ever made on the floor of the American Senate 
than that of the late Mr. Benton, when he said that the people of 
any State might alter and amend their Constitution at their pleasure, 
without consulting anybody outside of the State. 

"Mr. Dawes. Provided it be republican. 

"Mr. Bingham. Certainly, provided it be republican. There is 
that limitation. And provided further, if you please, that it does not 
contravene any of the guarantees of the American Constitution to 
the citizens of the United States, or any of the restrictions upon the 
States. I agree that there are limitations imposed by the Constitu- 
tion beyond which the people of a State may not go ; but I am 
speaking of the power of the people in the States to re-organize their 
State governments at pleasure, always in subordination to, but not by 
grant of, the Federal Constitution. My position is, this power is in- 
herent in the people, and does not exist by virtue of grants of the 
Constitution. It is a right in the people themselves. We come now 
to the great point in discussion here. Who constitute the State of 
Virginia? I beg leave here to thank my friend from Massachusetts 
(Mr. Dawes) for suggesting what was essential to the line of my ar- 
gument. The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Stevens) said the 
majority of the citizens of the United States within any State are the 
State. I agree to that, sir, subject to this limitation, that the majori- 
ity act in subordination to the Federal Constitution, and to the rights 
of every citizen of the United States guaranteed thereby. 

"But, sir, the majority of the people of any State are not the State 
when they organize treason against the Government, and conspiracy 
against the rights of its citizens. The people of a State have the 
right to local Government. It is essential to their existence. To- 
day, as the law stands in this country, and by the uniform construc- 
tion of the powers of this Government, there is no law by which 
the midnight assassin of a mere private citizen can be brought to 
judicial trial, to conviction, and to judgment, within any State of this 
Union, save the law of the State. Your Federal tribunals under ex- 
isting laws have no cognizance of the crime if committed within a 



175 



State on a private citizen, and can do nothing in the punishment of 
it judicially. 

"Now, sir, I beg leave to askj can the minority of the people of a 
State, by the act of the majority committing treason, and taking up 
arms against the Federal Government, be stripped of their right 
within the State of protection, under State laws, in their homes and 
in their persons, even against the hand of the assassin? Am i to 
stand here to argue such a question as that with intelligent represen- 
tatives ? I say, that if the majority of the people of Virginia have 
turned rebels, as I believe they have, the State is in the loyal minor- 
ity, and I am not alone in that opinion. I repeat, where the major- 
ity become rebels in arms, the minority are the State ; that the 
minority, in that event, have a right to administer the laws, and main- 
tain the authority of the State Government, and to that end to elect 
a State Legislature and Executive, by which they may call upon the 
Federal Government for protection "against domestic violence," 
according to the express guarantee of the Constitution. To deny 
this proposition is to say that when the majority in any State revolt 
against the laws, both State and Federal, and deny and violate all 
rights of the minority, that however numerous the minority may be, 
the State Government can never be re-organized, nor the rights of 
the minority protected thereby so long as a majority are in the re- 
volt. In such an event, the majority, being rebels, must submit to 
the law of the minority, if enforced by the whole power of the Na- 
tional Government. That is no new idea, even. It is as old as the 
Constitution. I ask gentlemen to refer to that remarkable letter of 
the Federalist, addressed by Mr. Madison to the American people, 
wherein he discusses the fourth section of the fourth article of the 
Constitution of the United States, to wit: 

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a 
republican form of government, and shall protect each of them 
against invasion ; and on application of the Legislature, (or of the 
Executive, when the Legislature cannot be convened,) against do- 
mestic violence." 

"As if that great man had been gifted with the vision of a seer, 
standing amidst his own native hills of Virginia, he foretold that it 
might come to pass that a majority of the people of a State might 
conspire together to sweep away the rights of the minority, and 
break down their privileges as citizens of the United States. In 
that paper Mr. Madison says: 



176 



"Why may not illicit combinations, for purposes of violence, be 
formed as well by a majority of a State as by a majority of a County 
or a District of the same State ? And if the authority of the State 
ought, in the latter case, to protect the local magistracy, ought not 
the Federal authority, in the former, to support the State authority ?" 

"That is precisely the question here to-day. That is precisely the 
condition of things in Virginia. The majority have become traitors. 
When the Representatives whom they had elected, who were required 
by the existing Constitution of Virginia, as well as by the Federal 
Constitution, to take an oath to support the Constitution of the 
United States, went to Richmond, joined in this conspiracy, lifted up 
the hand of treason and rebellion against the Government, foreswore 
themselves, and, in short, entered into a deliberate article of bargain 
and sale with Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the South- 
ern Confederacy, transferring the State of Virginia to that Confed- 
eracy, they surrendered all right to represent any part of the people 
of Virginia; as a Legislature they utterly disqualified themselves to 
execute that trust. But, sir, what are we told ? According to the 
logic of some gentlemen, it would seem that because the Legislature 
at Richmond turned traitors, because every man of them, except 
those few who escaped for their lives from that doomed city — as I 
trust it is a doomed city — joined in this red-handed rebellion, there- 
fore the people could have no legislation. I appeal to the immortal 
words of the Declaration in refutation of that conclusion. "The 
legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the 
people at large for their exercise." No matter, sir, who turns traitor, 
the legislative powers are incapable of annihilation. Now, what but 
this power remained to the people of Virginia ? Their Governor and 
Legislature had turned traitor. You say that no special election 
could be had under the Constitution of Virginia without a proclama- 
tion from the Governor, in vacation, or' without a writ of election is- 
sued by the Legislature. What was to be done ? I say that the 
power remained with the loyal people: of that State to call a Conven- 
tion and create a provisional government, which they did. On the 
23d day of May, 1861, the people of the State of Virginia, invited 
by an original Convention of the people themselves, met at the time 
and place specified in the existing law of that Commonwealth, and 
elected a Legislature. 

"Is it said that a majority of those chosen on that day, including, 
those chosen by the rebels, took the road to Richmond, and took the 



177 



oath of treason against the Government of the country ? Then I tell 
gentlemen who make that remark that these members elect never be- 
came part of the Legislature at all. The original Convention of the 
people declared, in i86r, that only those who were elected, and who 
qualified, should be the Legislature of the State. I might go some- 
what further with this argument. I say that the ultimate power to 
decide that question, "which of these bodies is the Legislature of 
Virginia ?" is in the Congress of the United States. What is the law- 
ful Legislature of the State ? Although they were literally chosen 
under the amended Constitution of Virginia, (adopted in 185 1,) and 
the statute of the State, nevertheless I say that it is competent for 
Congress to say — and it is not only competent, but it is the impera- 
tive duty of Congress to say — that not a man of them who refused to 
take the oath prescribed by the Federal Constitution, and who took 
the oath of that treasonable conspiracy at Richmond, ever became 
a member of the Legislature of the State of Virginia. Who then 
are the Legislature, of Virginia ? Only those who qualify in pur- 
suance of the requirements of the ordinance of the people them- 
selves, by taking the oath prescribed by the Federal Constitution, and 
by the Virginia Constitution. If those gentlemen had chosen to ob- 
serve that form they might have constituted a majority of the Legis- 
lature ; but they did not do it, either at Wheeling or at Richmond. 
They violated the Constitution of their own State, as well as the 
Federal Constitution, when they went to Richmond and took the 
oath of treason. 

"Now, who are the judges of this matter ? I intend, if I can, to 
strip from every member of this House all attempts to disguise his 
responsibility here. I am not going to quarrel with good friends if 
they differ with me as to final conclusions, but I am not going to 
stand here and allow the Representatives of the people, on a ques- 
tion of this magnitude, to shirk their responsibility. I say it without 
the fear of contradiction, because it has been affirmed by every 
branch of this Government, Legislative, P^xecutive and Judicial, more 
than once, that when the storm of revolution shakes the civil fabric 
of a State of the Union, the ultimate and final arbiter to determine 
who constitute the Legislative and Executive Government of that 
State, and hold its great trust of sovereignty, is the Congress of the 
United States, or the President acting by authority of an act of Con- 
gress. The great case of Luther and Borden must be fresh in the 
mind of every Representative of the people, and that was the very 
X 



178 



question which was then and there decided. What did the court 
decide in that case ? Luther brought his action for trespass to his 
domicile in the Circuit Court of the United States for the district of 
Rhode Island. He charged the defendant in that ease with having 
broken open his residence, which every man knows is, under our 
laws, his castle. He charged in his declaration that defendant not 
only broke into and entered his house, but .went through all his 
rooms, from garret to cellar, in search of his person; that he had 
violated, if you please, his sacred right of domicile. 

"Now, I may be pardoned for reminding gentleman here that there 
is no right known to the citizen, under the American law, or under 
the law of any country beneath the sun where the principles of the 
common law obtain, which is looked upon as more sacred than the 
right of domicile. You know that by the common law it is held so 
sacred that he who invades it without the leave of the owner, and 
especially menacingly, is not entitled to the benefit of the rule that 
the party whom he assails must flee to the wall, but he may suffer 
instant death, and the owner is justified before the law, because his 
hearth-stone is not to be violated by a malicious intruder against his 
protest and against his consent. There was a strong case against 
defendant on that record if he had not justified the act. But he did 
justify — and how ? Rhode Island had been in revolution. Two op- 
posing governments had been in operation. Who was to decide 
which was the lawful government ? They first said that the Courts 
were to decide. They asked the Courts of Rhode Island to sit in 
judgment upon the question whether the government under which 
they held their commission was a government at all. The Chief 
justice of the United States, with bitter irony and sarcasm, remarked 
that he did not "see how the question could be tried and decided in 
a State court;" for that, whenever they arrived at the conclusion that 
the government to which they owed their existence was no govern- 
ment at all, the court itself ceased to be a court, and could not pro- 
nounce the judgment. The breath of life would go out of its body 
instantly. This action, however, for trespass, was instituted in the 
United States Circuit Court for the district of Rhode Island. 

"The defendants, by their plea, justified the trespass on the ground 
that plaintiff was engaged in insurrection, together with others, 
against the State ; that the State was, by competent authority, de- 
clared under martial law; and that defendants, being in the military 
service of the State, by command of their superior officer, broke and 



179 



entered plaintiffs house. The plaintiff denied the authority, and 
replied it was defendants' own proper wrong. In other words, was 
the government against which the plaintiff was in insurrection the 
government of Rhode Island ? 

"The case finally came up to the Supreme Court of the United 
States, The Chief Justice (Taney) in delivering his opinion, said 
that it was a political question, and that the decision of it by the 
Federal Executive, under the authority of Congress, was binding on 
the judiciary. He also said the power to decide the question which 
of two governments in a State is the true government is in Congress. 

"That decision amounts to just this, and that is what gives import- 
ance to it in the discussion of this question : if the Congress of the 
United States solemnly decide, as they are the ultimate arbiter of 
this political question, that the people of Western Virginia have no 
right to maintain the government which they have established, and 
under which they have made this new Constitution, and apply here 
for admission, they thereby decide that it is void. All that remains 
is for the Executive to follow your example, and leave that people to 
their fate. 

"What is the effect of such a decision by Congress and the Ex- 
ecutive ? It is to bind your own judiciary to hold the legislation of 
that people for the protection of their lives and property void. You 
bind the judiciary of the State itself. You bind everybody 
who is appointed to execute the laws within that State. 
While you pretend to be for the Constitution as it is, you sav 
to this people, that inasmuch as they are in a minority, and inasmuch 
as the majority have taken up arms against the Government of the 
United States and of the State of Virginia, they are without the pro- 
tection of local State law; that their representatives duly elected are 
not and cannot be called the Legislature of Virginia. 

"I think I have said enough to satisfy the gentlemen who have 
done me the kindness to attend to what I have said, that the Legis- 
lature which assembled at Wheeling, Virginia, was the Legislature of 
the State of Virginia; and that it remains with you alone to deter- 
mine whether it shall be or not. If you affirm that it is, there is no 
appeal from your decision I am ready, for one, to affirm it, and 
upon the distinct ground that I do recognize, in the language of Mr. 
Madison, even the rights of a minority in a revolted State to be pro- 
tected, under the Federal Constitution, both by Federal law and by 
State law. I hold, sir, that the Legislature assembled at Wheeling, 



180 



then, is the legal Legislature of the State ; that it had power to assent 
to this division of the State of Virginia ; and that it is wholly imma- 
terial to me. whether a majority of the counties of that State refused, 
by reason of their treason, to co-operate in the election of Delegates 
and Senators to that Legislature. On the subject of granting the 
admission of the proposed State, to which that body has assented, it 
is enough for me to know there is a sufficient number of loyal men 
within the limits of the proposed State to maintain the machinery of 
a State government, and entitle them to Federal representation. 
That is the only rule heretofore recognized by Congress in the matter 
of admitting new States duly organized. 

"It may be urged here that this Legislature, before assenting to 
the division of the State, should have met at Richmond. It is hard- 
ly worth while to follow out such an argument. Gentlemen might as 
well allege that if the forces of the rebellion took possession of this 
capital, the American Congress could not meet and lawfully exercise 
its functions in Philadelphia. I do not expect to argue any such 
question, I undertake to assert that the power exists — that there is 
nothing either in the Constitution of the United States, or 
in the laws of the United States, to make invalid the 
meeting of Congress elsewhere within the limits of the Re- 
public than the city of Washington. If you assert the contrary con- 
clusion, then all Jefferson Davis has to do in order to annihilate 
the legislative power of the Government is to take possession of this 
capital. I am not ready so to stultify myself. 

"Now. this Legislature of Virginia has passed an act, in due form of 
law, assenting to the erection of a new State within the limits of that 
State ; that is all which is required by the Constitution of the L T nited 
States on the part of the State of Virginia. It remains to be deter- 
mined then whether Congress will grant its consent. 

"This State, which it is proposed to admit into the Union, is three 
times as large in territorial extent as the State of Massachusetts. It 
has an area of 24,000 square miles, and a free population of 340,000. 
The question then comes up whether the Congress of the United 
States ought to grant the prayer of the people of Virginia. Will 
Congress admit the new State upon the Constitution as framed and 
proposed by the bill to be amended ? 

"The gentleman on the other side who professes to represent Vir- 
ginia in this matter, (Mr. Segar,) says that we should not admit this 
new State because there were eleven counties in which there was not 



LSI 

a single vote for the Constitution. Well, there were fifty-two counties 
which voted. But he has not informed us how many votes were cast 
against it. It so happens that there is a return of some 19,300 on 
the adoption of the Constitution in the form as it originated in the 
Convention, and only 500, in round numbers, cast against it. You 
must consider that at the time this vote was taken a large portion of 
the male population were in arms, protecting the frontiers against the 
inroads of this armed rebellion. Yes, sir, my friend tells me not less 
than seventeen regiments, in other words, 17,000 men, were in the 
field. 

"That objection is easily answered, however ; for it is expressly 
provided in the Senate bill, which is now before the House for con- 
sideration, that the new State shall not be organized nor the Consti- 
tution adopted until there shall be another election by the people. 
They will have an opportunity then to vote it down. You give it the 
sanction of law by passing the Senate bill, which provides that it 
shall not take effect until an election be held, and that the Constitu- 
tion as amended by this bill shall be ratified by the people. They 
will then have an opportunity to determine, by ballot, whether they 
will come into the Union as a free State, or whether they will remain 
in the State ot Virginia as now organized. I submit that I am jus- 
tified in saying that the objection raised by the gentleman from Vir- 
ginia falls to the ground, unless he is indeed unwilling to trust the 
people. That is precisely the difference between him and myself. 
I have an abiding confidence in the people, and that confidence shall 
remain unshaken until that sad day comes, which I trust never will 
come, when a majority of the people in every State shall imitate the 
bad example of a majority of the people of the State of Virginia. 
That would indeed be a calamity for which our matchless Constitu- 
tion provides no remedy, and for which "no possible Constitution can 
provide a cure." The people will then have consented simply to 
national suicide and self-destruction. 

"It is because I have confidence in the people that I am willing to 
send this bill to them. I want to see them vote on it, from the base 
of the Alleghanies to the beautiful waters of the Ohio. I have been 
among that people. I know something of their character. I have 
seen eight or ten thousand of them in Convention assembled, for the 
laudable purpose of holding up the arm of the Government against 
this unmatched treason and rebellion. 1 believe that they are loyal. 
I believe that they are the friends of free institutions. We have 



182 



some evidence of it in the Constitution now before us ; and we will 
have additional evidence in that instrument as they will amend it, if 
you pass this bill. If it be urged that this bill, because it imposes 
conditions on the State, is without a precedent, I beg leave to say 
that it is not without a precedent There is scarcely a single bill 
which has passed the Congress of the United States for the admis- 
sion of a new State without conditions annexed, and without the fu- 
ture acceptance of which by the people of the proposed new State 
the State could not come into the Union. 

"The question has been asked, is it expedient to admit 'his new 
State ? Is it expedient to unite the people of that Valley as one 
man in support of the Government ? Is it expedient to give validity 
and legality to the acts of her lawful Legislature ? That is an im- 
portant question for us to consider. I trust that all men in favor of 
liberty regulated by law, will say that it is expedient for the American 
Congress, if possible, to sanction their action and give force to their 
laws. I fear that the chief objection, at last, to the organization of 
this new State, and to its admission into the Union, however gentle- 
men may disguise their thoughts, and shrink from a manly avowal of 
them, is not that there is any Constitutional objection to it — that there 
is anything inexpedient in it, when you take into consideration the 
whole interests of the whole people of the Republic — but simply that 
it is an inroad, which will become permanent and enduring if you 
pass this bill, into that ancient Bastile of slavery out of which has 
come this wild, horrid conflict of arms which stains this distracted 
land of ours this day with the blood of her children. 

"I have no doubt — I have no authority from any of their repre- 
sentatives to say it — but I have no doubt from what I know of that 
people, that if you give them the authority by passing this bill, that 
they will not only ratify this Constitution, but that they will be glad to 
accept the terms of the President's emancipation proclamation. I 
believe that many moons will not come and go before the Common- 
wealth of West Virginia will stand amongst the free Commonwealths 
of the Union. 

"I have no doubt about the general sense of the people of West- 
ern Virginia, and that if this bill passes in its present shape there 
will be no slave born there after the 4th day of July next. I am not 
ashamed to say that I esteem liberty as above all price, and that I 
count it a great privilege to be able to secure to any man who is 
guiltless of crime his liberty, though he be a slave. I would con- 



183 



tribute to that great end of our free institutions — freedom to all, and 
personal security to each. Without this men, may as well not be. 

"Under this bill, it is provided that no person born in that State 
after the 4th of July next shall be a slave ; that all persons held in 
slavery within the limits of that State under the age of ten years 
shall be free at the age of twenty-one, and all over ten and under 
twenty-one at the age of twenty-five years. God knows, I would 
have preferred that this House had the courage to have said that 
every human being should be free now and forevermore within the 
proposed State, upon the adoption of the Constitution. I intended, 
at one time, to have offered an amendment to the bill, but I had not 
the opportunity given me. I choose to follow the express will of a 
majority in that respect. 

"If I could not give liberty to-day to all the slaves in Virginia, I 
consider it my duty to give liberty ultimately, as this bill does, to 
nine tenths of the slaves within that State, and to forbid the increase 
of slavery therein in the great hereafter. I think he would be a poor 
Representative of free men and free institutions who would stand 
here and say, upon an occasion like this, that because he could not 
secure liberty to every slave within the State, therefore he would re- 
fuse liberty to nine tenths of them, especially when he has the oppor- 
tunity at the same moment to declare that no person born within the 
limits of that State after the next anniversary of our independence 
shall be held as a slave. 

"I trust, then, the bill will pass ; I trust it will pass, as I said be- 
fore, because I have an abiding confidence in the people themselves, 
that they not only will ratify what you will do, but speedily avail 
themselves in their legislation of the opportunity presented to them 
by the President's proclamation to inaugurate immediate or ultimate 
emancipation for every slave within the State. 

"Refuse to pass this bill, and if they attempt, by their present 
Legislature, to adopt the emancipation policy of the President, you 
will have the argument thrown back into your faces that that is not 
the Legislature of the State, and has no power to consent to the 
proclamation of the President of the United States ; and therefore 
you will be required to repudiate it. Pledge yourself to this. De- 
clare that the Legislature ot the State, and upon that hypothesis 
admit the State, and, of course, once admitted, its own Legislative 
Assembly will be beyond question ; and when the new Legislature 



184 

under the new State of Virginia shall accept the President's proposi- 
tion, as stated in his proclamation of the 22c\ of September, all 
doubters about the Constitutionality of the act will be silenced ; and 
whether they be silenced or not, there will stand the record of the 
majority of this House to give validity to their act, and from which 
there can be no appeal." 

"The Speaker. The hour of two o'clock having arrived, debate 
is closed by order of the House, and the question recurs upon the 
third reading of the bill. 

"The bill was ordered to be read a third time ; and it was accord- 
ingly read the third time. 

"Mr. Wickliffe. I call for the yeas and nays upon the passage 
of the bill. 

"The yeas and nays were ordered. 

"The question was put ; and it was decided in the affirmative — 
yeas 96, nays 55 ; as follows : 

"Yeas — Messrs. Aldrich, Arnold, Babbitt, Baker, Baxter, Beaman, 
Bingham, Jacob B. Blair, S. S. Blair, Blake, Wm. G. Brown, Buffing- 
ton, Burnham, Campbell, Casey, Chamberlain, Clark, Clements, Col- 
fax, Frederick A. Conkling, Covode, Cutler, Davis, Duell, Dunn, 
Edgerton, Edwards, Eliot, Ely, Fenton, Samuel C. Fessenden, Thom- 
as A. D. Fessenden, Franchot, Frank, Goodwin, Gurley, Haight, 
Hale, Harrison, Hickman, Hooper, Horton, Hutchins, Julian, Kelley, 
Francis W. Kellogg, William Kellogg, Killinger, Lansing, Lehman, 
Loomis, Lovejoy, Low, McKnight, McPherson, Maynard, Mitchell, 
Moorhead, Anson P. Morrill, Justin S. Morrill, Nixon, Noell, Olin, 
Patton, Timothy G. Phelps, Pike, Pomeroy, Porter, Potter, John H. 
Rice, Riddle, Edward H. Rollins, Sargent, Sedgwick, Shanks, Shef- 
field, Shellabarger, Sherman, Sloan, Spaulding, Stevens, Stratton, 
Trimble, Trowbridge, Van Horn, Van Valkenburgh, Van Wyck, Ver- 
ree, Walker, Wall, Washburne, Whaley, Albert S. White, Wilson, 
Windom, and Worcester — 96. 

"Nays — Messrs. William J. Allen, Alley, Ancona, Ashley, Bailey, 
Biddle, Cobb, Roscoe Conkling, Conway, Cox, Cravens, Crisfield, 
Crittenden, Delano, Delaplaine, Diven, Dunlap, Gooch, Granger, 
Grider, Hall, Harding, Holman, Johnson, Kerrigan, Knapp, Law, 
Mallory, Menzies, Morris, Noble, Norton, Odell, Pendleton, Price, 
Alexander H. Rice, Richardson, Robinson, James S. Rollins, Segar, 



185 



Shiel, Smith, John B. Steele, William G. Steele, Stiles, Benjamin F. 
Thomas, Francis Thomas, Train, Vallandigham, Voorhees, Ward, 
Chilton A. White, Wickliffe, Wright, and Yeaman — 55. 
"So the bill was passed. 

"During the call of the roll, Mr. Dawes stated that he had paired 
off upon this vote with Mr. Walton, who would have voted in the 
affirmative, while he should have voted in the negative. 

"Mr. Franchot stated that his colleague, Mr. Wheeler, was ab- 
sent on account of sickness in his family. 

"Mr. Bingham moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was 
passed ; and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider on the table. 

"The latter motion was agreed to.'' 



We received little active aid from Massachusetts in either 
House. They seemed to be sore at the remarks published in the 
Boston Courier, in December, i860. Senator Wilson rudely re- 
pulsed myself and friends, though he subsequently voted in our favor. 
Many of her papers, however, especially the Worcester Spy, spoke 
very kindly and decidedly in our favor. There was no General 
Butler representing her in Congress at that time. 

The bill then went into the President's hands for approval or 
veto. The opponents followed it there with unabated zeal. Many 
of the papers said Mr. Lincoln would veto it. He required the 
views of each of his Cabinet, then in Washington, to be given in 
writing. Messrs. Seward, Chase and Stanton, the brains of the 
Cabinet, expressed themselves strongly in our favor ; while Messrs. 
Welles, Blair and Bates, (the latter still adhering to the views ex- 
pressed in his letter to Mr. Ritchie, in 1861) expressed themselves 
opposed — Mr. Harlan being absent.;/ Numerically, therefore, the 
President received no aid from his Constitutional advisers, but he 
could justly appreciate the arguments and reasons given. It may be 
then, to the honest, hard sense, and wisdom of Abraham Lincoln, 
that we are indebted for the new State ; for if he had vetoed, we 
could not have hoped to command a two-thirds vote of Congress. 

The Hon. Jacob B. Blair seems to have been most alive to the 
critical situation at this time, and his efforts were untiring; and his 
honesty and earnestness had effect, I have no doubt. 1 happened 
to be in New York on private business, at this time, and gathering 



18 6 



from the papers the critical situation, I went to Washington the 31st 
of December, called on Mr. Blair that evening, who informed me 
that he had just come from the President, who had told him to call 
next morning and receive a New Year's gift. We both slept well 
that night. In the morning, Mr. Blair, as he afterwards told me, 
called at the Presidential mansion before the doors were opened, 
went in at a window, met the President, who had just got up — he 
went immediately to a drawer, took out, and showed him the Bill, 
with his signature affixed — as the New Year's gift he had promised — 
manifesting the simplicity and joyousness of a child, when it feels it 
has done its duty, and gratified a friend. I soon after left for home. 

The 14th of February following Mr. Carlisle introduced the fol- 
lowing in the Senate 1 



"AN ACT 

Supplemental to the act entitled "An Act for the admission of the 
State of West Virginia into the Union and for other purposes;"" 
approved December 31st, 1862. 

"Be it enacted by ike Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America, in Congress Assembled, That the procla 
mation authorized by the second section of the act entitled "An Act 
for the admission of the State of West Virginia into the Union and 
for other purposes," approved December 31st, 1862, shall not be 
issued by the President, until after the following counties in said act, 
viz : Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, McDowell, Pocahontas, 
Raleigh, Greenbrier, Monroe, Pendleton, Fayette, Nicholas and Clay, 
now in the possession of the so called Confederate Government, and 
over which the restored Government of the State of Virginia has not 
been extended or expressed,, have voted on and ratified the condi- 
tions contained in said act. 

"Sec. 2. And be it further enacted 7 That said Proclamation shall 
not be issued unless the conditions of said act shall have been rat- 
ified by the people, after an opportunity to vote upon the same has 
been afforded to the voters in each of the counties named in the said 
act — nor shall it be issued if it shall be made to appear to the Presi- 
dent by satisfactory evidence that the people have been prevented 
from having the same freely canvassed before them, or that they have 



187 



been deterred from toting by the presence of military force, it being 
the intention of Congress to secure to the voters of every county 
named therein the free exercise of the right of suffrage thereon." 



It was read twice by its title and referred to the Judiciary Com- 
mittee, who reported adversely, February 26 Mr. Carlisle moved 
that his supplementary bill be taken up and considered, which mo- 
tion the Senate refused by the following vote : 

"Mr. Sherman. Before the vote is taken I desire to say that my 
colleague (Mr. Wade) is detained at his lodgings by illness. That 
will explain his absence on several votes. 

"The question being taken by yeas and nays, resulted — yeas 12, 
nays 28; as follows ; 

"Yeas — Messrs. Bayard, Carlisle, Davis, Kennedy, Latham, 
Nesmith, Powell, Rice, Richardson, Saulsbury, Turpie, and Wilson 
of Missouri — 12. 

"Nays — Messrs. Anthony, Arnold, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, 
Dixon ; Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harding, Harris, 
Hicks, Howard, Howe, King, Lane of Kansas, Morrill, Pomeroy, 
Sherman, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wilkinson, Willey, Wilmot, 
and Wilson of Massachusetts — 28. 

"So the Senate refused to consider the bill." 



Mr. Carlisle and his confederates continued to push their 
opposition to the new State, until he stood in the Senate supported 
only by eleven rebel sympathizers, it would seem. 

In pursuance of previous summons by the Commissioners, the 
Convention re-assembled the 18th of February, 1863, to approve, or 
reject the gradual emancipation clause. The opposition had become 
greatly softened, in view of the unanimous expression of their con- 
stituents for a gradual emancipation clause, by their informal vote in 
the Spring of 1862, and the action of Congress and President, and 
concluded there was to be a new State in spite of their opposition. 
Still some contended that the assent of the Legislature to the Amend- 
ment was indispensable. But after referring to the Acts touching 



188 



the subject, which the recently adjourned Legislature had passed be- 
fore and after Congress had passed and published its action, they 
concluded that Legislature had already consented to the Amend- 
ment, and so the United States Supreme Court afterwards decided 
in the case of Berkeley and Jefferson counties, I think. To put 
themselves in shape, to monopolize the offices in the new 7 State, be- 
came the absorbing question with them, then. The Hon. John Hall, 
being necessarily absent, the Hon. A. D. Soper, of Tyler County, 
was elected President. Senator Willey appeared in his seat, and 
opened the proceedings by a long speech, containing a re-hash, in- 
dorsement and recommendation of the ideas and sentiments the 
friends had been proclaiming and contending for during the past 
year; but which he and his confederates had persistently opposed 
and ignored, both in, and out of the Convention, and Congress. To 
these sentiments, I think, none dissented; though some, I know, who 
were conversant with antecedent facts, gauged, and weighed, the 
man. This speech was printed and widely circulated, at the State's 
expense, I think, and helped much, to secure to him the honor and 
emoluments of the "Willey Amendment !" The opposition moved 
that the Convention had the power, and should ratify only, upon 
condition loyal slave owners were compensated for the pecuniary 
sacrifice it would occasion, or that the Convention should simultan- 
eously pass a Resolution declaring it the duty of the Legislature to 
make such compensation. The motion was warmly discussed. In 
the course of which I submitted the following remarks: 



The repeated definition by members of their position, in relation 
to the measure under consideration, admonish me to define mine ; 
which I will briefly do. In answer to the suggestion of the gentle- 
man from Kanawha, Mr. Ruffner, that he considered the matter 
compromised and settled last winter by the clause already in the 
Constitution, I would say, that I voted for that clause then, but at the 
same time expressed my firm conviction it would not satisfy Con- 
gress, and secure our admission. That that body would not consent 
to make two slave States out of one. From the commencement I 
have been for a new State, and have been willing to use all necessary 
and honorable means to get it. No man in his senses could have 
expected to attain the end without using the necessary means ; and 
however loud any one may have been in his professions for a new 



18? 

State, if he was unwilling to use the obviously necessary means to 
secure it, I am bound to regard the acts of such a person rather than 
his professions, and set him clown as an anti-new State man. It is 
now obvious a majority of the Convention erred in judgment, to say 
the least, as to the sufficiency of the clause. But we are all liable to 
err, and I am the last to remind others of failings I am obnoxious to 
myself — believing a consciousness of having been in the wrong a 
sufficient punishment to all honorable minds, without being told of it. 
But as the gentleman had seen fit to revive what its friends charac- 
terized at the time as a compromise in a manner to imply, if silent, 
my acquiescence, I have felt it my duty to say this much upon that 
point. 

In regard to the subject now under consideration — the Act of 
Congress provides that West Virginia shall become a State, and 
member of the Union under the present Constitution upon the fulfil- 
ment of a certain condition, viz : that the Convention shall make, 
and the people ratify a certain prescribed Amendment to that Con- 
stitution. If less than this be clone, the condition will not be com- 
plied with ; if more be done, if other amendments than the one 
specified be made, then a simultaneous ratification by the people, 
will give life to the specified amendment, and also such additional 
ones, which Congress must afterwards see and assent to, before the 
President will issue his Proclamation. All agree this should not be 
done. 

But this Convention being the only organized body of West Vir- 
ginia, is not precluded from doing any other act which shall neither 
add to, nor take from, the Constitution with the amendment pre- 
scribed, but which shall aid in giving practical effect to the amend- 
ment specified, and in accomplishing its object — the getting of a 
new, and Free State. The object sought to be attained by the 
amendment specified, requires a sacrifice of certain property in 
Slaves, owned by some of our loyal people, securing thereby a new 
and free State with the immense public benefits which all agree are 
to follow : as the doubling of the value of real estate — thereby in- 
creasing its valuation from ninety-three millions, its present valuation — - 
to one hundred and eighty-six mi//ions as one item, and other things 
in proportion. This creates the public exigency, or necessity for 
taking private property for public use, contemplated in the Federal 
and new State Constitutions, namely : "that private property shall 
not be taken for public use without just compensation." A public 



190 



exigency must exist to justify by this provision the State taking pri- 
vate property ; otherwise the State could approoriate the property 
of all its citizens, as the caprice or ambition of rival political parties 
might dictate ; which would be obviously inadmissable in a Repub- 
lican Government. But I conceive it to be immaterial to what use 
this private property is to be applied, provided it be clearly of public 
use, and for the public good. Private property may be taken for a 
public road, public navigation, for a bridge, or a mill, of public util- 
ity ; and buildings may be torn down in cities to stop the spread of 
fire. Whether there be an actual user, or sacrifice, of such private 
property, is immaterial, I conceive, if it be clearly for the public 
good. 

But I submit that it has never been judicially settled that the right 
to, or in slaves, or that the abolition of such right as is proposed in 
the present case, is such "private property," constitutes such "public 
exigency," or is such "public use" as the Constitutional provision 
contemplates, as entitling the owners to "just compensation." These 
are still debatable questions. Those who hold to what is called the 
"higher law," deny that property can exist in a human being. The 
gentleman from Taylor denies that the abolition proposed is such 
"public use" as will entitle the owner to "just compensation." These, 
therefore, are cpen and debatable questions in this country as neither 
has been judicially settled by a competent Court — the only tribunal 
that can authoritatively settle the question with us. But it is 
true, nevertheless, that the action of the Executive and Legislative 
branches of the Government, in similar cases, is entitled to great 
weight, and the action of other enlightened nations, in similar cases, 
as England, France and Russia, are important. Every member 
knows what Congress did last year, when it abolished slavery in the 
District of Columbia ; what the Chief Magistrate's views are ; as 
well as what England, France and Russia have done — and still all 
will admit the public mind, in its present excited state, in relation to 
the subject of slavery, will differ on these points. Fortunately, every 
member of this Convention, except the gentleman from Taylor, who, 
I hope, will become converted, agrees that it is such "property," such 
"public exigency," and such "public use" as will entitle the loyal 
owner to just compensation, within the meaning of the Constitutional 
clause, before stated. 

Now, our loyal slaveholders, being a small minority in the State, 
before they vote in favor of the proposed amendment, ask a public 



191 



and solemn declaration by this body that has made the Constitution, 
that in its judgment it is such property, that the public exigency ex- 
ists, that the sacrifice proposed is such "public use," as is contempla- 
ted by the Constitution, and entitles the loyal owneis to "just com- 
pensation." And they ask it, as I understand, for these reasons : 

First. Because it will place upon record the deliberate judgment 
of this body upon these disputable points ; carrying home to the 
minds of our constituents, slave-holding and non-slave-hokling, what 
we all agree to be the truth, and the legal rights and duties of all. So 
that our constituents shall have, when they vote on the important 
measure, all the light which true and faithful representatives can give 
on the subject. Will this be anything more than doing our duty to 
our constituents ? Shall we do our whole duty if we withhold it ? 
Shall we withhold, because rebel demagogues may try to abuse and 
prevent it ? 

Second. Because it will enable every loyal slave-holder to vote 
for the amended Constitution, without any apprehension that by a 
silent vote, without protest, he may waive his right to claim pay. 

Third. Because it will satisfy all slave-holders that have continued 
loyal in spite of this interest, and at the same time afford no just 
ground for complaint to honest non-slave-holders — and secure the 
largest vote, and serve thereby to remove existing differences from 
among our loyal people upon this subject. 

Fourth. Because it will be a cotemporaneous and solemn decla- 
ration of the intention of the makers of the Constitution, and serve 
in some measure to guide the action of future Legislatures. 

Fifth. Because it will show to the world that we have been hon- 
est in our professed desire to have a new and Free State, by showing 
a readiness to use the necessary means, and make any necessary 
sacrifice, to attain it. 

Lastly. Because it will place the new State upon that high, moral 
ground, where our friends everywhere expect her to stand ; where the 
Mother stood, so long and so gloriously — "till from herself she fell" — 
and entitle the new State, not only to the maternal motto : "Sic 
Semper Tyrannis" but that far grander motto: "Justice and Equity 
to All !" 

I believe our constituents are prepared to sustain us in doing 
whatever is honest, just and right, though it shall involve a small ad- 
ditional tax ; and also in declaring whenever, and wherever, the oc- 



192 



casion shall demand, that such is the fixed purpose of this body. I 
am sure that mine will. I believe the present occasion calls on us 
publicly to declare that the amended Constitution secures to loyal 
slave-holders just compensation for any sacrifice required to be made 
by the prescribed amendment. "Let us be just and fear not," leaving 
with God the consequences. 



The motion in both aspects was rejected, and the amendment as 
proposed by Congress was unanimously adopted. The Convention, 
however, passed a resolution commending such claims to the consid- 
eration of Congress, and moreover recommending it should make an 
appropriation of $2,000,000 for the purpose ; which recommendation 
has not as yet, I think, been acted on by Congress — the ratification 
of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution having 
annulled the claim. 

The only thing thar remained for the Convention to do, was to ar- 
range for taking the sense of the people, who, nearly a year before, 
had unanimously declared, by the informal vote, in favor of gradual 
emancipation, and instructed their Representatives accordingly. 
This, therefore, became merely a matter of form, in order to comply 
with the requirement of the Bill, as passed by Congress, and as soon 
as the people had approved, and the President of the Convention 
certified to the President oi the United States, it was made his duty 
to issue his Proclamation, stating the fact, and sixty days thereafter 
the new State became consummated, and a member of the Union; 
not "the bastard child of a political rape," as the redoubtable Gen- 
eral Wise called her (unless he and his confederates were the politi- 
cal rapers.) but by a procedure as legitimate in all respects as any 
State in the Union. 

The opposition, led at this time by the late Mr. Van Winkle, 
whose health had become invigorated by his summer recreation in 
New York the year previous — had become furious to monopolize 
the offices under the new State ; and in the schedule for taking the 
sense of the people, the 26th of May, then next, they proposed to 
elect the officers at the same time. I submitted this question : 
whether citizens of the State of Virginia, as our people clearly were 
until the new State became consummated, could legally elect officers 
for another State, as distinct in law as the State of Ohio was. The 



193 



greed for office, however, readily disposed of the question in the 
affirmative. Mr. Van Winkle prepared an Address of some 
sixteen pages, to our constituents, which, like Mr. Willey's speech, 
was a rehash of the ideas and sentiments our constituents had enter- 
tained, and instructed their Delegates upon, about a year before. It 
was quite amusing to the friends to witness the buncomb efforts on 
the part of these recent converts. The Address was voted, and large 
quantities printed and circulated. In the Convention as re-con- 
vened, were Prof. W. R. White, in place of Rev. Gordon Battelle, 
delegate from Ohio county, deceased ; and Rev. Samuel Young, 
delegate from Pocahontas county. 

The Constitution as amended was, of course, ratified by the peo- 
ple, by a vote nearly unanimous, and officers elected — the recent 
zealous converts taking care to secure the most lucrative to them- 
selves, as is usually the case. I was requested by my constituents 
to become their Representative, in the first Legislature, but declined. 
Nor have I ever sought, or held, any office under the State of West 
Virginia since ; and four dollars per day, while in the Convention, 
and mileage there and back, is all I have received, in any form, for 
my time, services, personal expenses and disbursements, about the 
new State. My brother, Dr. Willard Parker, of New York, 
was my only pecuniary aider. I did "cast my bread," such as it was, 
"upon the waters," and I have not a single regret. My only desire is 
that her people will make of the new State what she merits. To do this, 
they have to go to work, atad develop her resources, and not calculate 
on supporting themselves and families by sucking the poor thing dry 
in the form of fees derived from petty offices, while they impart, by 
personal production, no reparative aliment, or she will become as 
juiceless as a forest leaf in December. The Government and its 
officers, in our system of polity, are only the agents and servants of 
the individual citize?is, who alone are the sovereigns, the rulers, and 
should be the producers. From them, as individuals, the political 
body requires not the will only, but a contribution of produced and 
created increment, indispensable to its existence and growth. Suppose 
all citizens were to become officers or servants, which means suckers 
upon the dear people — with us the body politic — how long, think, 
before she would be sucked dry ? This cacoethcs for office is at pres- 
ent, the bane in both the Virginias, and other recently slave Suites. 
Productive slave lafivr has ceased to supply the indispensable aliment 
for a prosperous State. 
Z 



194 



Arthur I. Boreman, of Wood county, a zealous Southern Metho- 
dist when elected to the Richmond Convention in 1861 — after his 
return from that body, an equally zealous Northern Methodist, and. 
President of the first Wheeling Convention, was elected Governor,, 
and J. Edgar Boyers, Secretary of State, Campbell Tarr, Treasu- 
rer, Samuel Crane, Auditor, and Efhraim B. Hall, Attorney Gen'!;, 
James H. Brown, R. L. Berkshire and Wm. A. Harrison, judges 
of the Supreme Court of Appeals — of which Judge Brown became 
the first President ; and for Circuit judges, E. H. Caldwell for the 
First ' s John A. Dille for the Second ; Thomas W. Harrison for 
the Third; Chapman A. Stuart for the Fourth; Robert Ervine, 
for the Fifth ; James Loomis for the Sixth ; Daniel Polsley for the 
Seventh ; Henry J. Samuels for the Eighth, of the Judicial Circuits, 
Gov. Peirpoint and some other Executive officers, at the time, of the 
re-organized Government of Virginia, preferring to retain their pres- 
ent offices, and when the establishment of the new State superseded 
their jurisdiction to the extent of its boundary, they withdrew the 
Virginia archives, and removed to Alexandria, which became the' 
Capital of Virginia, and luudeus around which Unionism rallied, until 
the Rebellion was crushed, when they removed to Richmond, and the- 
re-organized Government was submitted to throughout the State, 
And let me say here, that, in my opinion, the re-organized Govern- 
ment of Virginia had in Francis H. Peirpoint, one of its boldest,, 
most self-sacrificing, and patriotic supporters, and in that way the 
Nation also ; though averse to a new State, especially in the form the 
Bill finally passed, as I have always thought. 

The officers elect met and organized the Government of the new 
State, June 20, 1863, Mr. Van Winkle and Mr. Lamb were mem- 
bers of the House of Delegates, and their services, in moulding the 
existing, laws of Virginia to conform to the new Constitution, were 
invaluable. The Virginia greed for office was everywhere rife, from 
lowest to highest. The United States Senatorships overtopped all 
others ; two Senators were to be chosen by that Legislature. Messrs. 
Willey, Van Winkle, Lamb, and A. W. Campbell were the princi- 
pal aspirants. The Methodist Episcopal Church, then dominant and 
aspiring, secured for its great Class leader, Mr. Willey,.. one of the 
Senatorships with little opposition ; and then, or theretofore, substi- 
tuted his for Mr. Carlisle's name wherever the latter existed. The 
camp upon Wheeling Island, where the brave and patriotic Kelley, 
Thoburn and Duval recruited and rendezvoused the First Virginia 



195 



Union Infantry, while the genius of Carlisle inspired — and Mr. 
Willev — was where ? — was changed from Camp Carlisle to Camp 
Willkv. The other Senatorship lie between Van Winkle, Lamb 
and Campbell. Neither, I think, were ostensibly allied with the then 
dominant Church, though it was thought to be its influence, that 
enabled superiority of physique and brass to triumph over superior 
merit, in the choice of the other United States Senator. It was 
about the same time, I think, the Legislature appointed Mr. Lamb a 
Commissioner to codify the laws. 

It was about this time when Grant and Sherman promised soon 
to take Vicksburg, and repossess the entire Mississippi and its 
tributaries, the rebels commenced another invasion of the loyal 
States- John Morgan, with his marauding band, advanced into 
Kentucky, and thence into Ohio ; while Lee's army advanced into 
Maryland, making for Philadelphia, Washington and New York, by 
way of Gettysburg. With what results, history shows. The sur- 
render of Vicksburg, the defeat of Lee at Gettysburg, and the fate 
of Morgan and his band, changed the future policy of the rebels. 
They had got to divide the people of the loyal States, or ultimately 
be conquered. To accomplish this end, all the Copperheads and 
Rebel sympathizers throughout the loyal States and Canada were 
summonsed to act with promptness and vigor — but entire secrecy — 
through all their secret organizations, of whatever name. Vallan- 
digham, whom the Government theretofore, had banished to Dixie, 
stealthily returned through Canada to Ohio, and announced himself 
as candidate for the Governorship -of that State — an election was to 
take place that fall. The Copperheads and Rebel sympathizers made 
him their candidate, and rallied around his standard. His platform 
was the Constitutioual right of States to secede, the impossibility of 
ever conquering the Rebel people, however much of blood and money 
should be expended, and that the only thing left was to cease hostili- 
ties, and either let them go, or settle on the best terms we could. 
This was a taking argument with the people of Ohio — the key-stone 
of the loyal arch, both civil and military — as her people, generally, 
were getting tired of war. It was a critical hour. The loyal people 
of Ohio nominated for their standard bearer the brave and patriotic 
John Brough. I was at that time, residing temporally at Proctors- 
ville, Union township, Lawrence county, of that State, and felt keen- 
ly the supreme importance of the issue, and submitted to my fellow- 



196 



citizens, orally and through the press, the following remarks in 
answer to treasonable statements put forth in our midst, and through- 
out the loyal States, at the time. 



THE NATURE AND EXCELLENCE OF OUR POLITICAL 
SYSTEM—THE DISTURBING ELEMENT. 

Fellow Citizens : It is well for us to be here. In Council there 
is wisdom and safety. What can we do to help restore our distract- 
ed Government, and remove the disturbing causes ; and thereby 
insure for it future health, peace, prosperity and happiness, is the ab- 
sorbing question that ought to occupy all loyal and earnest minds, 
the citizen and citizen soldier, alike ? The man that is not prepared 
to sacrifice himself, and all mere personal considerations to this par- 
amount object, is unworthy the era and country in which he lives, 
and more especially, the confidence and suffrage of loyal men. 

It may be well to consider the nature and value of our Institutions, 
which are imperilled by the apparently causeless and unnatural re- 
bellion ; the results these Institutions had produced before the break- 
ing out of the war, the causes that produced the terrible strife, and 
what are our present and future duties. 

And first, as regards the origin and nature of our Institutions, 
about which there has been, and is now, a wide difference of opin- 
ion — one party contending for the supremacy of the Federal, within 
the scope of its delegated powers, over the State Governments ; and 
the other party, the reverse, with a right in each State to secede, and 
leave the Union, at pleasure. This matter, in issue, I will endeavor 
to explain. 

Prior to the 4th of July, 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, afterwards 
the Thirteen original States, were united by a common allegiance to 
the British Crown. On that day, for causes publicly declared to the 
world, this allegiance was forever dissolved. These Thirteen Colo- 
nies thereupon became Thirteen separate and Independent peoples — 
though practically acting together in resisting the Mother Country. 
Very soon these Thirteen separate peoples, formed for themselves 
respectively, State Governments. In 1777-8 written "Articles of 
Confederation" were entered into by and between these Thirteen 
Independent State sovereignties. The Federal, or Central Govern- 



197 



ment formed thereby, called the Congress, was composed of Com- 
mittees, or Delegates, elected by the Legislatures of the Thirteen 
State Governments, which were the parties to this compact or league, 
and not the people themselves. This Congress could pass laws, but 
had no power within itself to enforce them ; but was obliged to sup- 
plicate the Thirteen State Governments to have them compel their 
respective citizens to obey its laws ; and if any State refused, the 
other States had to compel by declaring war against her. This was 
exactly the structure and powers of the "old Confederation" we have 
heard so much talk about. And the results were what might be ex- 
pected. During the war, and pressure of the arms of the Mother 
Country, the States generally obliged their citizens to obey the laws 
of Congress. 

But as soon as peace took place in 1783, and the outside pressure 
was removed, the States generally refused to obey the laws of the 
Congress. No money could be raised to pay the debt the war had 
created : nor even the interest ; nor could money be raised to pay 
the current expenses of the Government. Disputes, rivalries, and 
jealousies sprung up among the several States in regard to Trade, 
Commerce, and other subjects ; and the whole fruits of the Revolu- 
tionary struggle were threatened with immediate ruin. 

It was at this crisis that Mr. Madison wrote : "I hold it for a 
fundamental point that an individual sovereignty of the States is utter- 
ly irreconcilable with the idea of an aggregate sovereignty. I think, 
at the same time, that the consolidation of the States into one single 
sovereignty is not less unattainable than it would be inexpedient. 
Let it be tried, then, whether any middle ground may be taken which 
will at once support a due Superiority of the National authority, and 
leave in force the local authorities so far as they can be subordinately 
useful." Mr. Edmond Randolph wrote: "Government should be 
able to defend itself against incroachments, and that it should be 
paramount to State Constitutions, and have power to call forth the 
force of the Union against any member of the Union failing to fulfil 
its duty." Mr. Pinckney, of South Carolina, wrote : "That the 
States must be kept in due subordination to the Nation. That if 
States were left to act for themselves, in any case, it would be im 
possible, to defend the National prerogatives." 

These were the views entertained by the first minds in the South of 
the insufficiency of the "Confederation," as well as of the kind of 
Government required. 



198 



The giants of the Revolution aroused anew to make secure forever 
the precious boon their valor had won. The 25th of May, 1787, the 
Delegates representing the 'people of the several States, met in Con- 
vention at^Philadelphia, and with George Washington in the Chair, 
matured, and drafted our present Constitution. There were in that 
Convention the first intellects of the country, and of the age. Men 
that had cleared a place in the wilderness for a great Nation, expelled 
the red men, resisted the murderous attack of the French and In- 
dians, and finally, after wrestling for seven years with the British lion, 
had expelled, and brought him to acknowledge their Independence. 
Think these men did not know what they were doing ? Think they 
•would not cure by their new form of Government the fatal evils they 
had found during eleven years .trial to exist in the "Confederation?''' 
Think they came together, and after deliberating for months, made 
no material change to remedy the manifest radical defects ? Well, 
the present position of the Rebels and Copperheads assume they 
did not. They assume the great Fathers left the States altogether 
sovereign, with power and right to secede from the Union whenever 
they please ! 

Let us see for a moment what the Fathers did do. They drafted, 
and the people afterward ordained and established a Constitution and 
Government, self-acting, self- executing, and complete ; with its 
Legislative, Executive and Judicial departments — placing its founda- 
tion on the people in their individual capacity — not a mere compact 
•or league between the Thirteen States sovereignties, as the old "Con- 
federation" confessedly was. It begins thus : "We the PEOPLE of 
the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish 
justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, 
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for 
ourselves and posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for 
the United States of America." Then follows the various provisions — 
and it was afterward submitted to the people of the Thirteen States, 
and was by them ratified. Article sixth reads thus: "This Consti- 
tution, and the Laws made in pursuance thereof, and treaties made, 
or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, 
shall be the Supreme Law of the land ; and the Judges of every State 
shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution, or laws of any 
State, to the contrary notwithstanding." 

Gen. Washington, in his letter accompanying the draft of the 
Constitution to Congress, wrote thus : "In all our deliberations on 



1 



199 



the subject, we have kept steadily in our view that which seemed to 
us the greatest interest to every true American — the Consolidation of 
the Union — in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, and, perhaps, 
our National existence."'* . . 

Now, this Instrument discloses four great facts, intended by the 
drafters, first, that it is to be a Government ; second, that the People 
of the Thirteen States are to ordain and establish it; third, that 
thereby all the People are to become Consolidated and become one 
People to the extent of powers granted ; fourth, and when established 
was, with the laws and treaties made in accordance therewith,, to be- 
come the Supreme Law of the Land; and all Constitutions and laws 
of the States were to become subordinate thereto. 

The Convention requested the Congress then in session, under the 
"Articles of Confederation,'' to submit this Instrument to the peopt^. 
of all the States, to be convened through their delegates m each Stale 
to ratify the Instrument, which was done ; and the people of the sev- 
eral States ratified it in the following order, viz : Delaware, the 7th 
December, 1787 ; Pennsylvania, 12th December, 1787 ; New Jersey, 
17th December, 1787; Georgia, 2d January, 1783 - Connecticut, 9th 
January, 1788; Massachusetts, 6th February, 1788; Maryland, 28th. 
April, 1788; South Carolina, 23d May, 1788 ; New Hampshire, 21st. 
June, 1788 ; Virginia, 25th June, 1788 ; New York, 26th July, ., 1788 : 
North Carolina, 21st November, 1789; Rhode Island, 29th May, 
1790. The Instrument provided, that as soon as the people of nine 
States had ratified, it should take effect as to them, and authorized 
them to proceed to organize. The people convened in their respect- 
ive States for the purpose of ratifying because it was more convenient 
than for all to meet in one general Convention. 

Now, can there be any doubt that the Instrument was intended to 
be the act and deed of the people of the Thirteen States ? If we/ 
take up a newspaper to-morrow, and find a Proclamation reading, 
thus : "I, Abraham Lincoln," &lc, and bearing his signature at the 
bottom, should we hesitate in saying it was Mr. Lincoln's proclama- 
tion ? No more can we hesitate to say our present Constitution is the. 
act and deed of the people of the United States, acting in their in- 
dividual capacity. The people of e,ach State became consolidated, 
and bound, as fast as they ratified, in the manner the signers to m 
subscription paper, headed : "yve the undersigned," &c. — the obliga- 
tion attaches as the parties adopt by subscribing their names. 



200 



There being no question that such was the intention of the transac- 
tion, the only remaining question is, had the people power to establish 
such a Government? Of this, there can be no doubt. They at the 
time possessed or controlled all sovereign power, and could apportion 
this power between their State and Federal Government as they 
chose ; and if, in erecting the Federal Government it became neces- 
sary to resume or take back powers previously conferred on their re- 
spective State Governments, they had the unquestionable right to do 
so, and thereby place their State Governments as Washington, Mad- 
ison, Randolph, and Pinckney had proposed : in subordination to 
the Federal Government to the extent of its delegated powers. 

I have been thus particular, on this point, because secession starts 
here. The Rebels say the present Constitution, like the "Articles of 
Confederation," is only a "compact, or league" between the State 
Governments, and does not subordinate or abridge the State sover- 
eignty or its right to secede — which, as stated before, contradicts the 
plain language of the Instrument, and stultifies its Framers. 

The next inquiry is, how did the people in fact apportion or distri- 
bute the powers ? (Article 9th and 10th Amendments) clearly defines 
this. Article 9th : "The Enumeration in the Constitution of certain 
rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by 
the people." Article 10th : "The powers not delegated to the United 
States by this Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are re- 
served to the States respectively, or to the people." 

To determine our Governmental duties and rights, therefore, we 
have first to look to the Federal Constitution and see what powers 
have been granted to that Government ; and to these, and the laws 
and treaties made in accordance therewith, we owe our first and high- 
est duty and allegiance. Next, we should see what rights and powers 
that Instrument has prohibited to State Governments; and if our re- 
spective State Government undertakes to exercise any of these pro- 
hibited powers our paramoufit duty to the Federal Government re- 
quires us to keep our State Government to its sphere and place. We 
will then examine our respective State Constitution and Bill of 
Rights, and whatever powers we find conferred on it which have not 
been conferred on the Federal Government, nor prohibited by its 
Constitution to the States, and State laws made in accordance with 
this lawful State authority we are also bound to obey — all other pow- 
ers by the Amendments before quoted are reserved and belong to the 



SOI 

people, the rightful owners and controllers of all sovereign power — - 
whether delegated to their Governmental agencies, or not. Questions 
of conflict that arise between the powers of the two Governments it 
is the duty of the Supreme Court of the United States to decide ; 
which forms the key-stone of the arch, without which the whole 
structure would sink into anarchy. It is a system which seems to 
have been generated and formed by the circumstances which sur- 
rounded its great Founders,- who were but fit instruments in the 
Almighty's hand. 

We are ? then, citizens of two distinct Governments, the' Federal 
and our respective State Government ; and owing allegiance to each 
to the extent of the powers each possesses. Both of these Govern- 
ments are equally original, springing from, and resting upon, the 
people. Each is self-acting, independent.- and mandatory within the 
sphere of its powers— having its Legislative, Executive^ and Judicial 
branches.- The constituency of each' State Government are the citi- 
zens of the United States residing within such Stare ; the constit- 
uency of the Federal Government are the citizeris of the thirty-five 
States, united as one people to the extent of the Federal powers 
granted. The Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
Congress, and the President, represent all the people in their aggre- 
gate National character. It is made the express duty of the Presi- 
dent "to preserve, protect and defend" this Government to the best 
of his ability ; "and take care that the laws are faithfully executed" — 
all which he is bound by solemn oath to perform. 

To' enable the President to perform these, the highest of earthly 
duties, he is made Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of 
the United States, and the Militia of the several States when called 
into the actual service of the United States. It is made the express 
duty of Congress to make taws for calling out the Militia "to execute 
the laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections, and repel Invasions." 
It is also made the doty of Congress to make all other laws necessary 
and proper for carrying into effect "the powers granted to the ( rov- 
ernm'ent, skid to any Department or Officer thereof," which includes 
the President. 'Congress declares war and concludes peace. But 
when war is once declared, the President, as C&mmander-in- Chief, is 
bound to conduct it subject only to the established ''Articles of War," 
as his judgment and oath'-bound conscience shall direct, in order to 
best "preserve, protect and defend" the divine Edifice. As Cbm- 
mander-in-Chief he is subject only to tfec established Articles of 
A* 



202 



War" — beyond that, in conducting a war — he is absolute. He 
can suspend the writ of habeas corpus, whenever in his judgment the 
public safety requires, and thereby declare martial law, and shut alt 
Civil Courts. The powers of the Government are self- adjusting, and 
flow to the military head, in propoition to the emineney of the 
danger to the Government. As the storms rise and press, he rises 
m power, until he becomes another "flaming sword/ 5 " turning every- 
way to gsaard this new "tree of lite;' ? and as these subside he must 
also. Botla Rebels and Copperheads will find before they get 
through the present war that the Fathers were not fools, but had 
sense enough to construct a Government,, able to defend itself, against 
all enemies — even monsters as unnatural and God-forsaken — as the 
Rebels, themselves. 

Best what fruits and results had these Institutions produced up to- 
the; breaking out of the present rebellion — during seventy-two years ? 
Political institutions, like men, are best judged of by the results pro- 
duced. 

Our Territory had expanded from narrow strips along the Eastern 
and Western, slopes of the Alleghanies to the Pacific, and the River 
Del Norte; from thirteen feeble Colonies to thirty-three States ; our 
people from three to thirty-one million.; our Cities from. one, Philadel- 
phia,, (then numbering 40,000 inhabitants) t& one hundred and thirty, 
with New York the third, and soon to become the fast in. the World ; 
our Commerce has become second only to Great Britain; the ton- 
nage of our Vessels horn a few inferior Coasters and Merchantmen.,, 
to over 5,000,000 tons measurement ; our Exports had reached the 
enormous aggregate of $300,000,000 annually ; and in fact the increase 
of everything else that makes a People great, prosperous and happy, 
had been equally wonderful, and hitherto- unexampled in the world :. 
quy Flag known and honored by all Nations ; and even the isolated 
and hitherto sealed up People of the East had been recently allured 
to- our shores, asking our friendship and alliance I 

Nor bad the rapid extension of our Government, over new Countries 
and new Peoples, created any injurious coin petition in the working 
of the great and vastly diversified Industrial Interests 'under this won- 
derful System; but the whole had been characterized by the perfect 
harmony and reciprocity shown in the working of the vital functions 
of a healthy animal body — no where too much, and everywhere 
enough ; each part giving and receiving vigor and nour ishment; blest 
with plentiful harvests and general health ; at honorable peace with. 



203 



:it r ll Nations, and our People everywhere apparently full of hope S|nd 
liappiness. Such was our National aspect in i860. How like the 
Garden of Eden on the morning of the Fall, while the Archfiend 
remained masked in the wily serpent, or squatting toad J 

I will now introduce to you the testimony of Mr. A. H. Stephens, 
of Georgia, the brightest and clearest intellect by far of the whole 
South; and had he possessed the courage and strength, would to this 
day, I believe, have -remained unchanged; but he long since swooned 
we all know, and fell — into the chair of the Vice Presidency of the 
so-called Southern Confederacy, 

He opposed the going out of Georgia the 14th of November, i86o T 
before the Legislature in a masterly speech ; and again in the Con- 
vention that passed the ordinance. In his speech before the Legis- 
lature he said: "Our model Republic is the best the history of the 
world gives any account of. * * * That this Government of our 
Fathers comes nearer the objects of all Good Government than any 
other on the face of the Earth is my settled conviction. * * * 
Compare our Government with Spain, Mexico, the South American 
Republics, Germany, Ireland, Prussia, Turkey, China, and wherever 
you go following the sun in his track around the globe, to find a Gov- 
ernment that better protects the liberties of the People, and secures 
to them the blessings we enjoy." And in his subsequent speech be- 
fore the Convention he said, inquiring for their motives for wishing 
to overthrow the Government : "Is it for the overthrow of the 
American Government, established by our common Ancestry, cement- 
ed and built up by their sweat and blood, and founded on the broad 
principles of Right, Justice and Humanity ; and as such I must de- 
clare here as I have often done before, and which has been repeated 
by the greatest and wisest Statesmen and Patriots in this and other 
lands — that it is the best and freest Government, the most equal in 
its laws, the most just in its decisions, the most lenient in its 
•measures, and the most inspiring in its principles to elevate the race 
of man — that the sun of Heaven ever shown upon !" 

No motive could have induced Mr. Stephens to have thus stated, 
but the deep conviction of his entire nature that it was true , and 
his great intelligence and long and large experience as a 
public man, had eminently qualified him to know and judge. I have 
dwelt thus long on this branch because I have felt that the 
excellence, the inestimable value and blessings of our Institutions are 



204 



not correctly understood by many, and are adequately appreciated 
but by few. Their blessings have been so constant and so bountiful 
that like the pure atmosphere we breathe, they have lost hold on our 
attention, and ceaseed to interest. 

I fear we do not my of us sufficiently estimate the importance of 
the right kind of Political Institutions to the growth, development, 
and happiness of a People. '<Look at Greece — the same fertile soil, 
blue sky, inlets and harbors • the same 4^ga?an and Olympus the 
same lane} where Homer sung, and Pericles and Demosthenes- 
spoke ; and Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, unaided by direct 
Revelation, pierced the arcana of nature, and "looked through it up 
to nature's God." The same Salamis and Thermopylae. It is in 
nature the same old Greece, ^but living Greece no more" — and why ? 
Because its Political Institutions, the divinely moulding matrix, have 
departed. So with Rome, the "Eternal City" and so long the "mistress 
of the world," and all other ancient cities and States we read of. 
Men grow and develop like the plant, according to the circumstances 
and the nature of the aliments that surround them. Individuals at 
first give shape to the Institutions, and by Divine aid as our Fathers 
did, impart to them a developing form and quickening spirit ; and 
afterwards the Institutions will for a long time act upon a People with 
most happy and marked results — -the action becomes reciprocal. 

All Governments heretofore have had their youth, their maturity 
and decline, like individuals. Ours is in its youth — and is it to die 
thus prematurely ? Humanity, nature and God 3 the spirits of the 
great Founders, and of the recent heroic dead, the spontaneous impulse 
of every true and loyal American heart— answer, No 1 The present 
disease is abnormal^ superinduced by excess of health, growth and 
prosperity, both in the North a.nd South. Our unexampled prosper- 
ity was greater than we could bear. We in a measure forgot God a 
and have departed from the counsels and wisdom of our Fathers, 
We had become ambitious, vain, and proud. But the same benefi- 
cent Being that bids the foul pool and tainted atmosphere, be puri- 
fied — bids this young nation purge itself — and it will do it, and not 
die ; but come out cleansed and possessed of sounder health than it 
has ever enjoyed, and yet fulfill the high mission Heaven has 
allotted it. 

We will now inquire for the principal and immediate cause of the 
present seemingly unnatural and causeless Rebellion against this best 
<p,f Governments, as has been abundantly proved by such an array 



205 



of facts, and the clear and repeated admissions of the first intelli- 
gence, and one holding the second office in this unique political 
monstrosity ; which could have had its origin and growth only from 
the .coming together of the greatest contrarieties in nature; and 
nothing short of that system of absolute, legalized servitude, which 
has been cankering and festering at the very core of a Government, 
whose corner stone and political starting point was that "all men are 
born free and equal !" The great law of nature that "like begets 
like," forbids that anything short of such an antagonism could have 
produced it. 

But it is not left to inference alone ; there exists positive evidence 
that establishes the facts beyond question. The Fathers would never 
have left this disturbing element in the system had they not firmly 
believed the causes then at work would soon eradicate the evil. 
But the discovery by Whitney of the cotton gin soon after the Con- 
stitution was formed, gave an enlarged merchantable value to the 
article of Cotton, and rapidly increased the consumption and demand 
for it. This consumption and demand continued constantly to in- 
crease until in i860 it had become the clothing of the world, and as 
the slave oligarchs vainlv thought its "lord paramount," and that 
thrones and principalities rested upon it. The Slave States through 
their peculiar system of labor, and perhaps peculiar fitness of soil 
and climate, had mainly monopolized its growth. The value of slaves 
and slave labor rapidly advanced, till in i860 their value had increas- 
ed fifteen or twenty fold. The Fathers, counting its existence to be 
only temporary, and thinking it would soon die out of itself, made 
little room for Slavery in the Constitution. But as the value and 
importance of this property increased, Southern Statesmen early 
saw their straitened condition in this particular, became sensitive 
and nervous, and began to make room for it. Here as early as 18 19 
the conflict began, which has continued to wax warmer and warmer, 
till it culminated in the present terrible Rebellion. 

Mr, Calhotjn, the most subtle Statesman and captivating sophist 
the country ever produced, early foresaw the embarrassments and 
difficulties that would likely attend so immense an interest as the 
slave interest was fast becoming in a Government, whose genius was 
Freedom, and whose Framers had never contemplated or provided a 
place for so large and hostile interest therein. He early saw that to 
elevate and give undue prominence to "State Rights" over Federal 
pr National, was the only means to guard and foster the growing 



206 



interest; he also saw the necessity for consolidating the entire slave 
interest into a political unit : and then, by securing the co-operation 
of Northern dough-faces, by the emoluments of office, to take, hold attd 
control the Federal Government, and use it for the advancement of 
the slave interest and power. His plan was by these appliances to 
give full scope to the extension of the slave interest within the 
Union, and whenever checked in this to have the Southern mind 
educated and prepared to withdraw from the Union, and establish a 
monarchy with Slavery for its basis. The State Rights doctrine was 
everywhere inculcated in the South. The Resolutions of 1798 and 
1799, which Jefferson and Madison had originated as a basis, for 
their "strict construction" doctrine of the Constitution in opposition 
to the "Alien and Sedition Laws" of John Adams' administration, 
and for establishing the Republican party, as opposed to the Federal — 
and on which Jefferson became President in 1801, and he, Madi- 
son and Monroe continued to hold the office until 1824, when 
John Q. Adams succeeded. I say Calhoun dug up these old Reso- 
lutions, and making additions to suit his purpose, set the whole South 
to committing them to memory. In 1830 Robert Y. Haynes, his 
pupil, broached his "State Rights" doctrine in the United States 
Senate, on Foote's resolution, assailing the North, and Mr. Webster 
answered in his celebrated speech and demolished him. Calhoun 
soon after resigned the Vice Presidency, and was returned to the 
Senate to defend South Carolina against the iniquitous Tariff, as he 
termed it, and try the strength of his State Rights doctrine by nulli- 
fying the laws of Congress. General Jackson happened then to be 
about, and by the "great eternal John C. Calhoun had to back out, 
or he would have hung as high as Haman !" 

This was in 1832-3. Mr. Clay brought about a compromise of the 
Tariff question, which settled that for some time. In 1835 Mr. Cal- 
houn applied all his power for forcing the slave issue on the North. 
In 1837 Van Buren succeeded to the Presidency by assuming, 
reverentially and circumspectly, to walk in the foot steps of his 
"illustrious predecessor." This was the era of "loco-focoism." In 
1840 the Whig party out-demagogued Van Buren by their log 
cabins, hard cider, and coon skins, and Harrison and Tyler were 
elected. In 1841 Harrison died, and Tyler became a nondescript 
in politics. In 1844 Van Buren broke upon the Texas annexation 
question, and Polk was elected. Texas, the Mexican war, and the 
acquisition of the Mexican territory followed in 1848. In all these 



207 



measures Calhoun and the Slave power ruled. The South took the 
, lead in all these measures with a view to acquire territory over which 
to spread Slavery, either in, or out of the Union, as circumstances 
might dictate. The newly acquired territory happened to be free by 
the laws of Mexico ; and the conflict became fierce. Calhoun went 
for "forcing the slave issue," as he termed it, on the North. General 
Taylor was elected President. The Free Soil party was organized. 
Van Buren aided by his son John, out of spite to General Cass,. 
who worked against him in 1844, became its candidate, and Cass 
was defeated. The famous Wilmot proviso arose ; gold was dis- 
covered in California, and that State rapidly settled; and in 1850 
applied for admission to the Union as a free State — one-third of its 
territory lying South of '.'36 — 30," the line fixftd by the Missouri com- 
promise in 1820. The compromise of 1850 took place. California 
was admitted as a free State, and the Fugitive Slave law passed, as a 
part of the compromise. The rebel Mason exulted at the stinging 
points he had got in the Fugitive Slave law, as it would force the 
slave issue on the North more rapidly. In the Spring of 1850 Cal- 
houn died ; in June 1852 Clay, and in October 1852 Webster, died. 
Their mantles fell upon smaller men. In 1852 Frank Pierce was 
elected President, (a perfect tool of the slave power) and took 
Caleb Cushing and Jeff. Davis as his controlling advisers. In 
1854 the Kansas-Nebraska act passed, and the Missouri compromise 
was openly abrogated, and the "squatter sovereignty" adopted. 
Pierce makes efforts to purchase Cuba. In 1856 Buchanan and 
Breckenridge were elected on the "squatter sovereignty" platform. 
Fremont gets a large vote. The "Personal Liberty Bills" are passed 
in the free States. Bleeding Kansas becomes the field of conflict 
between the "border ruffians" and the "emigrant aid societies." 
The latter in spite of all the efforts of the administration, prevailed ; 
and the forepart of i860 the slave oligarchs conclude the Southern 
mind had become sufficiently moulded, and the Southern heart fired, 
to strike for separation, and the setting up of an independent mon- 
archy. The plan was to split the Democratic party, secure the elec- 
tion of Mr. Lincoln, and then strike for a separation. The facts 
that have taken place since are familiar to all. 

Subsequent facts have developed the most extensive and extraor- 
dinary conspiracy that the world ever witnessed. It had been in 
existence for thirty years, ever since General Jackson demolished 
Calhoun in 1832-3. The rapid increase in the number and value 



208 

of slaves and the wealth, consequence and luxury they brought fo 
their masters, early changed entirely their moral and religious views 
of the Institution. Instead of regarding the subject as the Fathers 
did, a moral, religious and political evil, they had come to regard it 
as a Divine Institution, enjoined by both natural and revealed law ; 
and the only safe and sure foundation on which human government 
could rest. When all other parts of Christendom were fast emerg- 
ing from it into a higher civilization and purer christian light, they 
were descending to its darkest and most revolting depths. What in 
the beginning was only a nervous instability at the peculiar and em- 
barrassing condition of this antagonistic element, increasing instead of 
dying out on their hands, they had become arrogant, insolent, and 
bullying— exhibiting the qualities of the gladiator, or brigand, rather 
than the amenities of the gentleman. Being reared from infancy to 
spit on and beat at pleasure the African, they have naturally come to 
think they can treat the white man in the same way. The influence 
of the Institution tends to destroy their purity, and corrupt through- 
out their moral and relsgious character ; and on the whole, make very 
uncomfortable members in a Republican family. 

The means used to bring fo maturity this gigantic conspiracy have 
been various. One was with Calhoun and his disciples since his 
death, to force the slave issue on the North—that is, to insult, taunt, 
irritate, '"shake the red flag," and thereby provoke the North to do 
and say imprudent things, which they would at once snatch up, pa- 
rade, distort, and magnify before their deluded followers at home, and 
thereby "fire the Southern heart." And too many of the Northerners 
suffered themselves fo be betrayed into saying and doing imprudent 
and some unconstitutional things, as passing the "Personal Liberty 
Laws" in particular. Their Southern Commercial Conventions were 
another means. But the "Southern Rights League," which merged 
in 1858 info that mystic, secret, thoroughly organized, wide spread 
and powerful order known as the "Knights of the Golden Circle.'' 
This was the last and' crowning form the conspiracy took before the 
Rebellion began, and is to-day in full blast. As to the existence of 
this order, its nature, and purpose, its magnitude, and terrible wide 
spread influence at this hour throughout, the Free States, none can 
doubt; and which clearly explains the conduct of men among us 
otherwise inexplicable. Nearly all the Copperhead and Butternut 
leaders belong to one of the three degrees of this order. Their 
Knightly allies in the Free States had promised their Southern 



209 



brothers large aid in holding the Free States still, while they of the 
South broke the South off, and they were then to join the South, and 
share the plunder — the stars, garters and diadems ! Their conduct 
admits of no other explanation. 

The Southern leaders thought these political Judases controlled 
the People of the Free, as they did the "poor whites" of the South. 
They expected a "coup d'etat" without much fuss. But when their 
guns opened on Sumpter, and the masses of the Free States awaken- 
ed, the Southern knights became undeceived ; and their Northern 
allies became terribly frightened — some renounced their "knight- 
hood" and went for the Government ; but more ran into their holes 
and hid. The Southrons became disgusted at their cowardly con- 
duct, and have placed no confidence, or shown respect for them 
since ; but only let them do any dirty work that may aid their getting 
off their bulrush bottom, freighted with human bondage, and bedeck- 
ed with all the insignia of royalty. The third, or governing order, 
consist of about forty. The leaders of the Rebellion are of them. 
So are Breckenridge, Bright, and probably Frank Pierce, Caleb 
Gushing, Fernando Wood, and brother, Vallandigham and others 
in this country, and abroad. 

Breckenridge stayed as long as he could at Washington, and 
driven from thence — where did he go ? Their business is to paralyze 
the Government in the Free States. There are hosts of lesser lights 
all round among us, that belong to the lower orders, who are not 
permitted to enter the "inner temple." 

Now these disguised rebels can have no hope of compromising 
the South back into the Union after what Jeff. Davis and the Rich- 
mond Inquirer have said. Hear it. Jeff. Davis in a speech at 
Richmond, January last said : "He would rather combine with 
hyenas than with the people of the North." And in a speech at 
Jackson, Mississippi, soon after : "That under no circumstances 
would he ever consent to re-union." And the Richmond Inquirer, 
the official organ, said recently : "On no terms whatever will the 
South consent to political association with the North ; we would not 
consent to hold the Northern States as provinces." This then, is the 
solemn and deliberate declaration of the fixed purpose and wish ot 
the Rebels in arms, made by the President and official organ of their 
Rebel Government. Can we have any higher or better evidence of 
their purpose to adhere to the scheme they have been thirty years 
maturing and getting ready ? 
B2 



210 



However culpably slow our authorities may have been to take the 
Rebels at their word, our brave volunteer soldiers early understood 
their purpose, and accepted the issue, "Victory or Death" — and a 
million by a common impulse of patriotic devotion resigned the com- 
forts and duties of civil lite, and rallied around the Nation's Flag.. 
They have understood all along that there was to be no compro- 
mise ; that to conquer or be conquered was the fixed and unalterable 
issue the South had made up, and tendered — and they had accepted 
it. And down to the present moment these noble Patriots that are 
daily baring their bosoms to the storm, to war, and death — are con- 
juring all at home, by all that is sacred and valuable in country,, in 
kindred, in liberty, to stand firm, and the Victory will be outs. 
Cannot these soldiers judge bstter than the ""knights gallant" at 
home, these traitors in disguise ? These are the greetings and assur- 
ances sent us by our noble bFothers without exception, from the 
camp, and battle-field. If further evidence be asked of our steady 
amd certain advance to Victory, hear the wail of the Richmond Whig 
m a recent article beaded, "Belt of Desolation/' 

"Day by day the tract of the Destroyer becomes broader. Two- 
thirds of Virginia, two-thirds of Tennessee, the coast of North and 
South Carolina, part of Georgia, nearly all of Florida, Northern 
Mississippi, Western and Southern Louisiana, a great part of Ar- 
kansas and Missouri have already been laid waste ; and every hour 
brings news of fresh destruction. * * * The Belt of Desolation 
widens hourly ; nor is there much prospect of aus abatement of the 
evil. Citizens complain of the Government, while in turn, 'the Gov- 
ernment complains of the citizens; and every day the enemy remains 
in our territory will add to the width of the Belt of Desolation; and 
they who now fancy themselves safe, will soon discover their mistake. 

"As the months wane, and the years roll on, the South — unless 
something can be done, will become in the language of scripture,, 
the 'abomination of Desolation/ " 

This gives us a good insight to the interior of Rebel dom. It tells 
clearly they are getting huFt ;, but their brother "Knights" among us, 
say "it is too bad — and gross violation of the Constitution." It 
shows they are "caving in ;" that they are human and can be con- 
quered, just as other bedevilled human beings during the last six 
thousand years, have been whipped soundly, and made to behave 
themselves — still the "Knights gallant" insist that this can never be 
done to the "Southern Chivalry." I hope this evidence will dispel 



211 



nil doubts in loyal men's minds at least, as to what is to be the final 
&es alt of this conflict ; and that our cause is as certain to triumph 
ultimately, as Right is to triumph over Wrong, or Truth over Error. 

But how hold out the relatives and friends our brave soldiers, that 
Siave gone to the field, have left at home? Do we not see parents 
bending beneath the weight of years, that have sent their young and 
promising sons, the pride, hope and joy of their declining years, to 
die if need be, for their country — and still the countenances of these 
parents are beaming with hope and that joy, which lofty patriotism 
and conscious right alone can give ? The aged widow, cheerfully 
toiling on alone, having given up her noble sons to the cause, and 
sighing only that "she has no more to give ?" The wives, the young 
and anxious, and the middle-aged — amidst their children, and 
prattling infants, toiling on uncomplainingly — consoled by the 
thought that there is such a country to be saved^ and that they have 
given their natural supporters, guardians and protectors — their best 
gifts — with their strong arms and manly courage to help save it? The 
loving and trusting sister, who has without a murmur, given up that 
brother whose society she so much enjoyed, and whose gallant and 
manly form she used to gaze upon with pride and delight? Nor do 
the tidings of the sacrifice of these loved ones at any time upon the 
altar of their country, overwhelm them ; but the hope of a country, 
and of rewards promised to all that shall "continue faithful to the 
end," still bears them in triumph onward ! So stands our brave 
soldiers in the field, and our loyal people at home ; and so stands 
Rebeldom. 

But lo \ this grand, solemn, steady and determined advance of the 
loyal Armies in the field, and People at home, is marred and some- 
what disturbed by "Peace Patriots" or "Democrats," among us ! By 
the "Knights Gallant" and their few deluded followers. I am unable 
to see that the leaders have at present any standing or place at all, 
either North or South. The North has already ejected some of them 
into Rebeldom, which is making efforts to cast them back in order to 
avoid their personal proximity, and have them resume the part and 
work allotted for them to act in the Rebellion, when it commenced. 
I shall not insult your understanding by offering additional evidence 
or argument, to prove that these Leaders are Rebels, confederate 
with Jeff. Davis and Company, and aiming to accomplish under 
disguise, what cannot well be done openly. They are as much worse 



212 



than Jeff. Davis, as the spy is worse than the open enemy ; and 
while the laws of civilized Nations treat the one as prisoner of war 
when captured, they hang the other as a Felon. They have professed 
to be m favor of saving the Government — when all their acts and 
measures proposed if allowed to have effect, must inevitably destroy 
it. To all the acts and conduct of the Rebels, and repeated state- 
ments of their head officers, generals and papers, that in no event 
whatever, will they consent to any compromise or re-union — they 
have opposed — what ? Why, no coercion, no Army, no Navy, no 
War — but Peace and Compromise ! which is acknowledgment of 
their Bogus Confederacy. 

And still they have the brazen impudence to stay among us, and 
say they are for the Union as it was / And still the Government 
tolerates them ; and we have men among us who are at large, and 
without legal guardians as yet, who adhere to, and follow these Lead- 
ers. This, to my mind, is the strangest thing in all the broad field of 
the Rebellion. The motives of the Leaders I can understand, but 
their followers, now the guise and mask of their Leaders have be- 
come so transparent, is what astonishes me. I began and continue 
a Jacksonian Democrat, and cast my first vote for that old hero (in 
Massachusetts where he was unpopular), and gave him my feeble 
support when he vindicated the Government so triumphantly, by 
demolishing Calhoun and his nullification in 1833. I am now as I 
was then, though I did not vote for Mr. Lincoln — for sustaining the 
President by all the means in our power, and through him, our 
transcendantly wise and beneficent Government. 

July, 1863. 



[Letter to the Ironton (O:) Register.] 

HON. REVERDY JOHNSON'S LETTER TO THE NEW YORK 
COMMITTEE— POLITICAL ARRESTS— -THE FREEDOM 
OF SPEECH AND THE PRESS. 

I find going the rounds of some of the copperhead journals the 
following, with other extracts from the letter of Reverdy Johnson, 
of Baltimore, to a committee in New York City, dated July 2d, 
1863 — the time when it was expected by the enemy that General 



213 



Lee was to take Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia ; Governor 
Seymour, Fernando Wood and Company, the city of New York; 
and John Morgan and Company, the rest of the United States; viz : 

"Our rulers should consider another subject. The public senti- 
ment respecting it is too strongly exhibited to be mistaken, To defy 
it will be madness. Arrests on mere suspicion in the loyal States, 
where the course of justice is unimpeached, must cease. Their very 
safety and the success of our arms demand this. And arrests for 
alleged specific causes, of civilians not under military rule, must be 
disposed of as provided by the legislation of the last Congress. 
Whatever differences of opinion as to the extent of the executive 
power of the President, no one can doubt that it is within the scope 
of the authority of the legislative department of the Government to 
pass the laws referred to. It is, of course, the duty of the President 
to obey them. To disregard them himself, or to permit his subordi- 
nates to do so, (as has been done,) is a clear violation of that duty. 
Even if the power of Congress was questionable, a decent respect, 
for Congress, and for public opinion, requires that this conduct should 
not be repeated. Freedom of speech, and of the press, too, must 
not be abridged. This is provided for by an express constitutional 
provision, which it is an impeachable offense to disregard" 

I have not seen the entire letter ; but, in view of this and other 
extracts that I have read, decrying the character of certain officers 
in the army, and imputing to Mr. Lincoln partisan motives for 
appointing and employing them, to the exclusion of others of differ- 
ent political views ; and also the lime, the occasion, and the charac- 
ters of the persons to whom the letter was addressed, and the facts 
that have since transpired in the city of New York — no loyal man 
can hesitate where to place Reverdy Johnson. His high reputation 
as a lawyer, his former employment by, and confidential relations 
with the Administration, made his opinion of great value to his cop- 
perhead friends in New York, at that time. No one can doubt he 
had his part assigned in the great tragedy to be enacted about that 
time, any more than that Lee, Morgan, Seymour, Wood, Andrews, 
Vallandigham and Jeff. Davis had theirs. The signal failure lias 
probably admonished him to wrap close about him his loyal guise, 
hoping to escape detection, and perhaps enjoy again the confidence 
and patronage of the Administration. This facility of change is 
among the chief merits of the "Knights." Such men differ from 



214 



Davis and Lee, as the spy differs from the armed enemy. The sen- 
timent of the civilized world treats one as a prisoner of war when 
captured, while it hangs the other as a felon. 

Mr. Johnson's charge against Mr. Lincoln is a grave one. 
Whether true or false, it is our highest interest to know. 

I will endeavor to demonstrate that Mr. Lincoln has full warrant 
in, without going outside, the Constitution for every thing he has 
done, as well in his civil capacity, as President, as in his military, as 
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. 
These are distinct capacities — as distinct as though the powers per- 
taining to each were vested in separate individuals ; as for instance 
in A. B., who acts as President, and discharges the civil duties — 
approving or vetoing the action of the two houses of Congress ; and 
as sole executive of the civil side of our Government, discharges ali 
the duties appertaining to that side; and in C. D., as Commander-in- 
Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, who administers 
and directs the military side of our Government, which must of 
necessity be administered according to the laws of war, which are not 
municipal, but public, or international ; for parties at war are always 
alien to each other, in respect to the war at least, be these parties at 
the commencement distinct and independent Governments, or part of 
one and the same Government, as is the case in our present war. 
In case the belligerents are separate and independent Governments, 
neither has the right to require of the other that the war shall be 
conducted in conformity to the municipal law of either, but only in 
conformity to international law, the public law by which all civilized 
warfare is conducted. Nor have the Rebels any more right to require 
the Federal Government to conduct the present war with any regard 
to its municipal law, but only in conformity to the public law of 
war — for by their Rebellion they have abjured the government, and 
become completely alien, so far as the war is concerned ; so in effect 
has every person who has so far connected himself with the open 
Rebels, or their cause, as to become what the Constitution and 
public law of war regard a public enemy. Our own Constitution and 
international law make "the levying of war, or adhering to the enemy, 
giving him aid and comfort," the "overt acts" which constitute a public 
enemy. Neither say anything about where the persons shall reside, 
whether within the lines of one or the other of the belligerents. Are 
they public enemies, within the definition before stated, is the question 
to be ascertained. And if they are such, and not belonging to the 



215 



organized army, they become liable to be arrested by the civil or 
military power of the Government they are hostile to — according to 
the necessities and exigencies of which, the assailed Government is 
the judge, to be guided by public law ; and if it violates this law, in 
its decision, the injured party must seek redress through the Govern- 
ment he then adheres to, regardless of former relations. 

Have Mr. Vallandigham and his confederates, by speech, writing 
or other action, become, in the sense of the above definition, adher- 
ents to the rebel side, "giving them aid and comfort ?" If they have 
not, then they are in the right, as neither the Constitution nor public 
law interfere with a person for opinion's sake, unless such opinion be 
expressed by word or action. Mr. Johnson, their apologist and de- 
fender, contends that the Constitution expressly guarantees the free- 
dom of speech and of the press to all living within its limit, regard- 
less of the fact, whether such speech or writing be friendly or inimi- 
cal, or the authors adherents to the Government, or the enemy. 
This construction would allow the enemy to send and quarter in our 
midst as many of its emissaries and adherents as it might choose, to 
slander and traduce the Government, its officers, and cause, through 
newspapers and upoti the stump, without restraint and with entire 
impunity. This is too absurd to be believed for a moment by any 
sane man; much less by so eminent a lawyer as Mr. Johnson. He 
knows full well that it has uniformly been held by the Courts oi our 
own and all civilized nations, that mental adherence to a power at 
war with our Government, and publicly advocating by speaking or 
writing under any guise or form, the enemy's cause, constitutes such 
person our public enemy, and gives to our authorities the unques- 
tionable right to treat him as such, without regard to his antecedent 
relations, or present place of residence. 

Now, why has not the war power of our Government as much 
right to crush this public enemy, operating in our very midst, as one 
operating beyond our lines ? Is a former member of my household, 
that has turned assassin, and, seeking my life, conceals himself in 
my bed-chamber, the better to effect his purpose, to be preferred to 
the bold highwayman, against whom are my strongly bolted doors, 
and a watchful patrol? And what right have these self-constituted public 
enemies in our midst to complain of the effectual action of the mili- 
tary power upon them, and to claim a slow, and as they know, inef- 
fectual trial by our civil courts, when their plottings and machinations 



216 



demand as prompt and summary suppression, as other spies, found 

. within our lines ? It is preposterous. 

But the same eminent jurist contends that it would be "madness" 
for the military power of the Government to arrest, in the loyal 
States, upon mere suspicion, when the civil courts are open, and that 
such "must cease f" and that arrests for alleged specific causes, of 
civilians not ttnder military rule, (by which he must mean not in the 
regular service,) must be disposed of as provided by the legislation 
of the last Congress, "which it is the duty of the President to obey/' 
It is the duty of the President, as the civil executive head of the 
Government, to see such laws of Congress as are Constitutional, 
faithfully executed, and to obey them himself. But I deny that any 
such legislation unless the established "Articles of War," is absolutely 
binding upon him when acting in his military capacity as Command- 
er-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, in the midst of the present civil 
war. It would be utterly impracticable for Congress, which meets 
but once a year, to foresee and provide for the great and sudden 
changes that are daily occurring in such a war. The Commander-in- 
Chief will of course be guided by any legislation of Congress, in 
the conduct of the war, as far as practicable ; but by following it 
strictly, regardless of the events daily occurring, would most likely 
result in defeat, the overthrow of the Government, and violation of 
his solemn oath— which is "to the best of his ability to preserve, pro- 
tect and defend the Constitution of the United States" — and not that 
he shall do this according to the laws which Congress may see fit to 
pass ; but absolutely according to the best of his ability, which indeed 
makes him, as the head of the military power, absolute, subject only to 
the "Articles of War," so far as the conduct of the war is concerned, 
though there are many limitations in other respects. The framers 
meant, doubtless, to apply this portion of the oath to him as Com- 
mander-inChief of the Army and Navy, and the portion preceding, 
viz : "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) to faithfully execute the office 
of President, of the United States," was meant to apply to his civil 
duties, in the discharge of which, I admit he is bound to conform to 
the legislation of Congress, when Constitutional. The provision that 
constitutes him the military head of the Nation is this : "The Pres- 
ident shall be the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of 
the United States, and of the militia of the several States, when 

« called into the actual service of the United States." There is this 
further clause, also ; "The President shall take care that the laws 



217 



are faithfully executed ;" which means constitutional laws of Con- 
gress throughout the entire nation, including the portion in rebellion ; 
thus showing more clearly the high and important duties imposed on 
him— and not unconstitutional laws which cripple, if not destroy, his 
military power, which is essential for discharging these high duties, 
by removing all obstructions to the due execution of the civil law. 
There is this further provision in article i : "The privilege of the 
writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases 
of rebellion of invasion, the public safety may require it." Of course 
the framers intended to confide the decision of the question— "when 
the public safety may require its suspension," and the power of sus- 
pending the writ, to the President, acting as Commander-in Chief, as 
?ieces$arily ificident to that office. The high and constant duty the 
Constitution devolves on the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to 
uphold the Constitution and laws during the recess of Congress, no 
less than when that body is in session, necessitates that he should pos- 
sess these powers, and if the framers had meant to confer the exclu- 
sive power of deciding and suspending this writ on Congress, they 
would have said so. 

These are the high and essential powers the framers meant to con- 
fer on the President, when acting in his capacity of Commander-in- 
Chief of the military power of the nation, and the forces necessary 
to execute them. Nor have they failed to provide for supplying all 
other necessary means. Article i, Section S, Clause 18, provides 
that : "Congress shall make all laws which shall be necessary and 
proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other 
powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United 
States, or in any Department or Officer thereof." This obliges Congress 
to sustain, by necessary and proper legislation, the President in the 
discharge of his high duties as Commander-in-Chief. 

A careful survey of the foregoing provisions cannot fail to vindi- 
cate the wise framers against the supreme folly imputed to them by 
rebel sympathizers, that these framers, after having spent their whole 
lives amidst foreign and domestic wars, and learned from experience 
the vicissitudes of Governments, they should have erected one with- 
out lodging somewhere the power necessary for self preservation 
and defence, both in time of peace, and war, whether foreign or do- 
mestic. Every day's experience proves the body politic they framed 
and bequeathed to us possesses self-adjusting powers, which How to 
the military head in exact proportion to the eminencv of the danger, 

0,2 



218 



making that bead, if the other Departments do their duty, equal ijp 
all emergencies, and more omnipotent in self-defence, s^lf-preserva- 
tion, and public good, than any monarch of Europe ; while the mo- 
ment he attempts to use the power for evil, be is made to become,, 
involuntarily, as weak and harmless as a child. As the storms rise 
and press, he rises in power, until he becomes another "naming; 
sword, turning every way to guard this new tree of life f but as they* 
subside, he must also. How different it would be if obliged, as Mr.. 
Johnson thinks he is, to go before Congress once a year and get a- 
copy of its laws to govern his military operations during the ensuing, 
year 1 

I hope I have succeeded in demonstrating that Mi. Lincoln has 
warrant within the Constitution for all he has done, without resorting; 
to powers resulting ex necessitate ret, from the necessity of the case, out- 
side of the instrument; that our wise Fathers foresaw the evils that 
must befall us* in eorrMnon with other nations,, and amply provided for 
every emergency ; that the President, in his military capacity as Com- 
mander-in-Chief, is- clothed with the amplest powers for successfully 
conducting foreign wars, and suppressing, rebellion and insurrection 
at home;, that whoever, within the limits ©£ the Republic,, becomes in 
the sense of international law and the Constitution a public enemy,, 
that moment forfeits all part and lot in the Government he has turned 
traitor to, and to its protection, and is liable to be seized by the iron 
hand of military power,, and. dealt with accordingly ;, that he is liable 
to be arrested- anywhere in the country on just suspicion, and his 
guilt established or disproved before a court martial,, or in the civil 
courts-, as the military power, in view of the public exigency, shall 
determine. Mr. Johnson doubtless bases his conclusion that free- 
dom of speech and of the press cannot be Constitutionally abridged,, 
either by the civil or military power of the Government, on this clause 
in Article (of the amendments) viz : "Congress shall make no 
law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." This cannot 
by any. possibility be construed to deny the military head the right of 
abridging or suppressing both, in time of civil war r if the public 
safety requires it — and his conclusion that military arrests "on mere 
suspicion in the loyal States where the course of justice is unim- 
peached must cease," and that arrests for alleged specific causes 
(meaning acts of disloyalty of course; of civilians not under military, 
rule must be disposed of agreeably to the legislation of Congress, 
upon this clause of the Fifth Article, (amendment three,) viz: "No 



219 



peTson shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous 
•crime, unless on presentation or indictment of a grand jury, except 
in cases occurring in the land and naval forces, or in the militia when 
in actual service in tinae of war or public danger." 

It is clear .the framers meant this provision should apply to the 
■civil and not to the military proceedings of the Government. And 
the inference that might at first sight seem to arise — that the pro- 
vision extends to all who are not embraced in the exception — is con- 
trolled in this case by the unqualified right .given to the war power 
.by the clause before quoted to suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus, 
(which is the only process known to the law wliereby the civil can take 
out of the hands of the military power any person arrested^) whenever 
■"in case of rebellion or insurrection the public safety may require it." 
The war power, then, clearly has the right, on the before named exi- 
gency occurring, to withdraw the privilege of this writ from all the 
people — whether in or out of the military service, or from any portion 
of them as the public safety in its judgment may require. This in 
effect substitutes martial law for , the civil ; and it is not to be pre- 
sumed that the framers meant to give an absolute civil right without 
a corresponding civil remedy. Beside, the inherent necessities of 
domestic war, like the present rebellion, require it Traitors are 
everywhere, in the Slave and Free States, co-operating in all forms to 
effect a common end, the overthrow of the Government — some in 
organized armies, others in giving aid and comfort by fermenting 
mobs, as recently in New York city, others in secretly furnishing pro- 
visions and munitions ; others, information ; others, like Vallandig- 
ham, Seymour, Wood and their like, too numerous to mention, are 
laboring with equal zeal by speaking and writing, and the use of 
every secret machination and appliance that treason can invent, in- 
cluding the order of the "Knights of the Golden Circle," in order 
to detach the loyal army and people from and turn them against the 
Government, and thereby help to accomplish its overthrow. And 
still Mr. Johnson would have Mr. "Lincoln, the head of the military 
power, and bound by -his oath before God, to the best of his ability, 
to defend and uphold the Government, not by any line of conduct 
Congress shall prescribe, but as his own judgment and oath bound 
conscience shall direct — commit all these confederate traitors in the 
States that have not passed the secession ordinance to the slow, fee- 
ble and uncertain action of the Civil Courts ! The same men who 
claim this to be Mr. Lincoln's duty, claim that all the Courts in the 



220 



country, State and Federal, have the right to. hear and discharge or* 
writ of habeas corpus every soldier in the army ! Concede this, and 
who doubts but that Judge Paddock and his like would fill the ah 
with their writs of habeas corpus, the army become paralyzed, and 
the soldiers when wanted to fight the enemy, would be — where? Why, 
"attending court !" Such may find adherents among copperheads 
and a slave besotted people, but none I trust among live and uncon- 
ditional loyal men, anywhere. The other clause in the Fifth Article 
"nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of 
law" — -Courts martial have their "due process of law" no less than 
civil courts ; and the clause applies equally to both. The Sixth Ar- 
ticle (amendment) applies in times of peace, and can have no appli- 
cation to limit the military power in a time of rebellion like the pres- 
ent, which seeks the overthrow of the Government. No, the errors 
of the Administration, if errors there are, consist in excess of len- 
iency, not severity — -in not coming up to the line of Constitutional 
right and duty, not in going beyond it. And if other copperhead 
leaders had been seasonably arrested and dealt with, even with no 
more severity than Vallandigham, the New York riots would not 
have taken place. G. PARKER. 

Proctorsville, September 19, 1863. 



The editor of the Register made the following remarks in notic- 
ing the above letter : 

"A CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT. 
"Especial attention is called to the article on our first page, from 
the pen of Mr. G. Parker, of Proctorsville, relative to arbitrary 
arrests, and the powers of the President in times of civil war. Cer- 
tain disappointed, self-vaunted Constitutional lawyers hereabouts 
have been doing their utmost to mislead the people in relation to 
these matters ; and we are happy to be able to have them set forth 
so correctly and ably, by a man fresh from among themselves, who 
has no animosities towards the Government on account of political 
disappointments and jealousies. We can add nothing to the argu- 
ment of Mr. Parker, but advise all our readers to give it an atten- 
tive perusal." t 



221 



[Letter to the Ironton ((.).) Register, October S. 1863.] 
THE LOYAL PEOPLE OF WEST VIRGINIA TO THEIR 
FRIENDS IN OHIO. 

Friends and Fellow Citizens : The importance we attach to 
your approaching election, and the vast influence its results will be 
likely to exert upon yourselves and us, the country, and through that, 
upon civil and religious liberty throughout the world, is our reason 
for asking your attention at this time. 

You, being of the elder and stronger offspring of a common moth- 
er, whose past glory is equaled, in degree, only by her present self- 
abasement, while we approach with respect, it is with the confidence 
and lively interest a common origin and common destiny naturally 
inspire. 

We are in the midst of the greatest rebellion the world has ever 
witnessed. The loyalty of West Virginia, you all know, has already 
passed through terrible ordeals, and expects and is prepared to pass 
through more. Meanwhile, true loyalty in Ohio has watched and 
guided our infant steps with more than a sister's care and sympathy; 
and seconded by that of the country, who have regarded our efforts, 
though comparatively small, as the first signs of recuperative loyalty 
and life in a rebellious and paralyzed member; and by the world, as 
the re-illummation of liberty's last hope on earth — that the young 
Republican Nation was to purge itself, and not prematurely die. 

It has become your turn now to pass through a somewhat similar 
ordeal, but with results vastly more important, as it is to solve, in no 
small degree, man's capacity for self-government ! We have gained 
experience which you lack. We have wrestled with the archfiend in 
his own den, where he has unmasked and appeared himself. You, 
as yet, have seen him comparatively but in blandishments and smiles. 
He now appears before you in the guise and dress of Democracy, 
whose name and principles, he well knows, a Jackson, Douglas, and 
other apostles of liberty, have enshrined in our hearts; and promises 
conciliation and peace with the very enemy for whom the great Jack- 
son prescribed powder, lead and hemp, as the only effectual remedy. 
He at first appeared before us in the form and dress of "States 
Rights," "State Pride," and promised us a most glorious and happy 
future, if we would follow him. Behold how many were seduced, be- 



-222 



■trayed, and ruined ! The wail of his victims, famishing and repent- 
ant, already come to us from .every part of iiis ruined abodes. Be- 
hold his ragged, lousy and God-forsaken soldiers, as they come, as 
prisoners or deserters, within our lines, and listen to the story of 
their sufferings. Listen, we beseech you, to the letters, the entrea- 
ties, of your own sons and brothers, as they daily come to you from 
the glorious band of heroes who are bearding the monster in his den. 
Do they not, to a man, tell you that the issue is unalterably made up 
between them and the arch-enemy, and that it is, "to conquer, or be 
conquered and which they accept; and if the friends at home but 
stand firm, united and true, the victory is certain. And do they not 
tell you that conciliation and compromise are entirely out of the 
question. Will you disregard their voice, who are "bone of your 
bone," and who are daily "baring their bosoms to the storm," and 
"pouring out their generous blood like water," and follow Valland- 
igham & Co., whose acts and confessions, and the admission of ev- 
ery rebel journal, have shown to the satisfaction of all minds, that 
they are but confederate co-workers with the archfiend himself, 
whose only remaining hope is to divide the people of the Free States ? 
Every just sentiment of our nature, the spirits of the great Founders 
of the Republic, the spirits of the recent heroic dead, oppressed hu- 
manity everywhere, and God himself — all watching our every thought 
and action in this great ^crisis — forbid it ! 

Behold the vaunting enemy, that in the beginning claimed that one 
of his "chivalry" could whip Jim of the "mud-sills" in equal combat 
— instead of invading the Free States, daily contracting his lines at 
home before our victorious armies, and seeking to accomplish his 
hellish purpose through confederate co-workers in the Free States ! 
Behold the enemy, that at first vaunted his superior humanity, now 
plundering unarmed citizens of everything, even to dirty shirts and 
baby clothes, to relieve his destitute and famishing followers and their 
children! Behold him who in the commencement claimed, through 
"King Cotton, to have the nations of Europe paying him homage" — 
now a cringing supplicant at every despot's feet, offering to give up 
his kingdom and ruined people for — a bare recognition ! 

Remember, moreover, we beseech you, that the land we have been 
accustomed; derisively, to call "sacred," has now become so indeed, 
by the graves of those we loved. And shall the soil which holds their 
cherished forms, and has become fattened with their precious blood, 
pass forever to the desolating rule of this arch-enemy, who will dese- 



229 

crate their graves,, and mock and jeer,- as has been his savage custom-,- 
over their sacred relics ! God, nature, and country — forbid it ! 

But now the charms and exciting novelty of the war have passed, 
there are those who incline to listen to the copperhead's pleasing 
song of Denrocracy and promises of peace ! Did sot the same arch- 
enemy make the like pleasing promises to our first parents in the 
garden? — to our Saviour on the mount? — to his present victims, 
whose wails already firr our land ? But how do they propose to ac- 
complish this purpose ? Why, by withdrawing and disbanding our 
armies ; and then, they say, Jeff. I>avis & Co.- will at once lay down 
their arms, and come back into the Union, prepared to behave them- 
selves ! What folly ! As well might the crew of a boat,, when neap- 
ing the suction of Niagara Falls, expect deliverance by laying down 
their oars and folding their arms L 

The proud State of Ohio,, hitherto so peerless among a glorious- 
sisterhood — voting for a convicted and banished traitor for her Gov- 
ernor ! This State, that has one hundred and fifteen thousand of her 
noble sons in the loyal army, who, to a man, will vote against the 
traitor, and; who are warning and entreating their fatness and brothers* 
at home to shun him as their deadliest enemy ; and still, it is believed,, 
some of these fathers and brothers will vote for Vallandigham I 
What inconsistency ! A father sending his son to meet and fight a» 
professed enemy, and then himself opening fire on- that son from the rear!- 
Posterity will never credit,, but will believe,, as we- and all truly loyal 
men must now,, that such- a father loved his country's enemy far more- 
than his own loyal son-! That Heaven may avert so sad a spectacle- 
is our fervent prayer; and that every Ohioan may stand up, in this 
great crisis, to duty, to his country, humanity,- and God — and if there- 
shall be others,, then— 

,v Who would be a traitor knave ? 
Who would fill a coward's grave ? 
Who so base as be a slave ? 

Let HIM TURN M&D FLEE !" 

WEST VIRGINIA. 



The election in Ohio took place the 13th of October. The Water- 
loo defeat of Vallandigham and his party, throughout the State, is- 
known. Vallandigham was defeated by over 100,000 majority,, 



224 



when the year preceding, the Democrats carried the State. The vote 
of Lawrence county was 3,095 for Brough, and 863 for Valla ndig- 
ham. Included, was the vote of the soldiers from Lawrence county, 
members of various regiments stationed at different points. Their 
vote was 827 for Brough, and 7 for Vallandighaivi. The vote in 
Union township was 238 for Brough, and none for Vallandigham. 
No other township having done as well, she was regarded as the 
banner township of the State, and on the day of November fol- 
lowing was presented with a beautiful Flag, bearing this motto : "All 
hail the township where treason finds no resting place." 

A Commission, comprised of gentlemen of Ironton, viz : Dr. B. F. 
Gorey, John Campbell, H. S. Neal, Adjutant Gillen, S. G. John- 
ston, C. T. McKnight, and J. Veasey, met the Trustees, a Commit- 
tee with Charles Wilgus, Esq., as its Chairman, and the citizens 
ot the township and surrounding country assembled, and organized: 
with Col. A. C. Kouns in the Chair ; and their Chairman,. Dr. 
Corey, presented the Flag, with an eloquent and complimentary 
speech — to which, by kind invitation of the Trustees and Committee,. 
I had the honor to* submit the following remarks in reply : 



Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen : In behalf of the Trustees, 
Committee and citizens of Union Township, I tender to you, and 
through you, to the donors generally, our profound thanks for the 
gift — this beautiful Emblem of our Country. It is not the elegant 
and costly material of which it is composed,, nor the delicate taste 
and skill displayed in the workmanship — both indeed admirable — but 
the high merit you have been pleased to ascribe to us in the motto: 
"All hail the Township where Treason finds no resting place," that 
awakens in us feelings of gratitude and honest pride. To have per- 
formed a work, at once so consonant with our own feelings and sense 
of duty, and so approved by a people as patriotic and appreciative 
as the citizens of Ironton — is gratifying indeed. Nor is this the first 
evidence of the kind regards of your People. For the last two 
years, ever since the war began, their strong arms, together with those 
of brave and patriotic men from adjoining townships — have been 
seasonably and repeatedly extended, to shield us from every threaten- 
ed danger. For this too, we would tender to you and to them all r 
our grateful acknowledgments. 



We cannot think it is any peculiar merit of ou ; r own that elicits the 
present gift. True, we were fully aroused to the transcendant im- 
portance of the issue in the recent election, and that the eyes of the 
world were upon the People of Ohio — still we feel we only did our 
duty, and that our fellow citizens elsewhere, would have done as 
well, had they been situated, and witnessed what we have. In com- 
mon with many others, we live upon a border that becomes a line of 
blood, if the Rebellion should succeed ; and in addition to this cir- 
cumstance — we have had experiences which others have not, We 
were aroused on that quiet Sunday evening (November 10, 1S61) by 
the murderous yells of Clarkson's and Jenkin's Raiders, by the 
shrieks of butchered Loyalists, and the din of battle. We witnessed 
the retaliatory burning the next day. A year ago we confronted for 
six weeks the left wing of the rebel Loring's army, stretching through 
Guyandotte, to the mouth of Sandy ; and for one week of the time, 
guarded 12,000'' bushels of oats which the Government wished kept 
safely, and so moored at our bank at Proctorsville ; and during the 
six weeks there was only a loot of water on the bar or ford of the 
river, that separated us from the enemy, then in great need of oats, 
as well as other things, we had in abundance, on our side of the 
river. To- have thus seen and felt what we have of the Rebellion, 
and not to have voted to a man against Vallandigham, would have 
been extraordinary indeed ! 

Yes — ^it was our proximity to, and practical knowledge of the 
monster, that made our vote imanimom against one of his sneaking 
and whining whelps ! 

You gentlemen, by presenting this token to us, attest your high re- 
gard for unwavering fidelity, everywhere, and under all eireu/u stances — 
to Duty, to Country, and Truth! And in this sentiment the People 
of Union Township, join you with one accord. 

Gentlemen, I need not remind you that our People have been 
equally responsive to Duty, in promptly furnishing her quotas of 
Soldiers to the Army. Her chosen sons have mingled with nearly 
every corps of the loyal army since the war commenced ; and have 
participated with untarnished honor, and signal courage, "in many 
a well fought field ;" and some, alas ! have attested their devotion to 
this sacred Emblem, by yielding up their lives. These, gentlemen, 
with the ever cherished and honored memories of her heroic dead, 
will constitute her jewels ! 

1)2 



226 



We observe with peculiar pleasure, that you have given to West 
Virginia, the youngest born, "the child of the storm/' which the ene- 
my disowns — her star in the Nation's Galaxy. Its brightness — may- 
she never lesson, but continue to* add to it, new lustre. 

Assuring you, gentlemen, that we fully appreciate the vail'ue and 
sacredness of the trust committed to our charge — we will guard; and 
preserve it unsullied, and transmit it, together with.- its histoiry and a 
similar injunction — to our children. 

Several gentlemen, among them Major Davidson^ of Buriiogtom,- 
who was at home on. furlough, Hon, H. S: Neal, and Rev. Mr. 
Dillon — contributed much to edify, encourage and amuse the 
assembly ; while the bountiful tables prepared by the daughters of 
the Banner Township were, in all respects, in. keeping with the valor: 
and patriotism- of her sons* 



The progress made by our army under Generals Grant, Shisr- 
man, and Sheridan, towards crushing the Rebellion, destroyed 1 the 
last hope of the Rebels, unless they could divide the loyal people at? 
the approaching Presidential election, and thereby get control of the 
loyal government. In- concert with their friends in France, England, 
Canada., and in the loyal States, they arranged for the Chicago Con- 
vention, (to be held on the 4th of July, but subsequently postponed 
to the 29th of August,, in order to avail themselves of intervening 
events,} formed the platform it adopted, and fixed on the candidates 
for President and Vice President that it nominated. 

It was, indeed,, an alarming crisis. The Rebel leaders, through 
their sympathizing friends, headed by Vallandigham, strained every 
nerve, and employed every means that desperation and the worst 
passions of our nature could suggest ; while then armies appeared 
to be holding ours, at a "deadlock." 

The first marked defection to the proceedings of the Baltimore 
Union Convention, its re-nomination of Mr. Lincoln and his policy, 
appeared among prominent political leaders of our party. Secreta- 
ries Seward and Chase, Senator Wade, Horace Greeley, Henry 
Winter Davis, John C. Fremont, and some others, who I think, 
had been equally original Abolitionists. The cause assigned, and 



227 



doings of each, are matters of history. The popular strength of 
Mr. Lincoln, shown by the State elections that occurred soon after, 
and the success of our arms, wheeled them back into line, before the 
day of election came, the 8th of November ; and in season, fortu- 
nately- for them to give the Union ticket their aid and influence. It 
signally showed however, the littleness of individuals, of whatever 
anticedents, when opposing the popular current in a crisis like 
that, under our Institutions, Fidelity to truth, requires me to say, 
that in my judgment, the conduct of the war theretofore, furnished 
much to justify defection in the most patriotic minds. And still, 
Mr, Lincoln's entire honesty, which none disputed, his sympathetic 
nature, earnestness, and simplicity of manners, had endeared him to 
the people, as no other. His seeming mistakes and short comings, 
had but allied him the closer, making sure that he was one of them, 
and the fittest person to be the leader in such a storm. The simple 
anecdote he told of the Irishman's advice "not to swap horses while 
crossing the river," went home to the popular heart. 

As touching the Chicago Convention, its platform and candidates, 
I published the following, remarks in the Wheeling Intelligencer : 



[Letter to the Intelligencer, September 6, 1864.] 
THE CHICAGO PLATFORM OF 1864 — WHAT IT IS, 

We have read it carefully, and taken in connection with the known 
^characters and sentiments of its makers and their cotemporaneous 
acts — all being legitimate aids .to a true interpretation — it is nothing- 
more nor less than the Rebel heresy, a Constitutional right of Se- 
cession. 

Resolution First expresses an "unswerving adherence to the Union 
as a framework of government equally conducive to the welfare and 
prosperity of all the States, Northern and Southern/' Now this we 
agree to, provided it be such a Union as our Fathers intended, viz : 
A Union of all the people of the United States in one Government 
to the extent of the powers granted by the National Constitution to 
pur National Government ; and not a mere confederation or compact 
between the several States as independent sovereign powers. Now 

v 



228 



it is this latter union that is contemplated in this resolution, as is 
manifest from what follows. 

Resolution Second declares that it is not only the sense of the 
Convention, but the sense of the American People, (a pretty bold 
assumption,) that by the war so far, "the Constitution itself has been 
disregarded in every part, and that immediate efforts should be made 
for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate Conven- 
tion of all the States-— (pot the people of "the States'") "or other 
peaceable means to the end that at the earliest practicable moment 
Peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of these 
States. Now if they had said on the basis of a new Federal or 
Confederate Union of the States they would have expressed their 
exact meaning and wish, viz : — that our armies should at once be 
withdrawn, which would be a virtual acknowledgment of the "South- 
ern Confederacy" by our Government, to be immediately followed 
by acknowledgment by other powers, and then the offer on our part 
of such terms as should induce the "seceded" States to enter into a 
Treaty or League similar to the Articles of Confederation. But let 
us examine further : 

Jn Resolution Third they declare the direct interference of the 
military authorities of the United States in the elections held in 
Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri and Delaware shameful violations of 
the Constitution, and that a repetition will be resisted by force. Now 
it is well known that the only interference of the military in elections 
held in these States has been at the express request of loyal voters 
and the Executives of these States to protect them from the violence 
of open and armed rebels. And this they pronounce to be such a 
shameful violation of the Constitution "as will justify resistance by 
all the means and power under their control." 

In Resolution Fourth they expressly declare the aim and object of 
their party to be "to preserve the Federal Union and the Rights of 
the States unimpaired" — that is the Rights of the sovereign and in- 
dependent States united only by a league or confederation from 
which each will haye the right to secede at pleasure ; and with that 
view they proceed to declare the acts of the administration "usurpa- 
tions of extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the Con- 
stitution." And instance the exercise of military power within the 
limits of States not in insurrection by arresting, trying, sentencing 
and imprisoning American citizens in States where civil law exists in 



229 



full force ; the suppression of freedom of speech and the press ; the 
denial of an asylum ; the open, avowed disregard of State Rights^ 
and denial of the right of the people to bear arms. These they re- 
gard as "calculated to prevent a restoration of the Union and the 
perpetuation of the Government, deriving its powers from the con- 
sent o.f the governed." This of course refers to the arrest of Val- 
landigham and other Knights of the Golden Gircle, American 
Knights, and Sons of Liberty, who reside and work for the "South- 
ern Confederacy" in the loyal States, because they can effect more 
.here than elsewhere, and at the same time keep out of the reach of 
Federal bullets, and, as they contend they have the right, without 
interference or molestation from the general Government. 

But it cannot be supposed for a moment that men of their intelli- 
gence would deny the same power in the Government to stop Jeff. 
Davis' co-workers and confederates while working in Ohio or Indi- 
ana, as it has those working in Virginia or Georgia. The only differ- 
ence is, the former are far more dangerous to the Government, for 
they act secretly and under disguise. It can therefore be reconciled 
only with their theory that the States are sovereign and independent, 
and the armies of the National Government have no authority in any 
case to invade the soil of a sovereign State, and in this view they are 
probably right in saying that the interference of the Government in 
arresting the Knights and seizing their arms and ammunition has 
delayed and helped to prevent the Government of Washington be- 
ing converted into a mere confederation of thirty-five independent 
States, all at war with each other. 

In Resolution Fifth, they denounce the Administration for disre- 
garding our soldiers now languishing in rebel prisons. While we 
believe the loyal people generally think the Administration has not 
done all it might to relieve these sufferers, we cannot but observe 
with what ill grace the complaint comes from these men to Mr. Lin- 
coln's Administration. He can do nothing but retaliate upon the 
rebel prisoners in our hands, and this the Knights most vehemently 
condemn. They even go so far as to admit these rebel prisoners 
into their Orders of Knighthood, 400 from one prison. Certainly, 
the Knights would not suffer any retaliation to be practiced on them. 
The members of that Convention would have attested their sincerity 
far better if they had addressed their complaints to their confeder- 
ates at Richmond, who alone have the power to give immediate and 
direct relief. 



230 



In the Sixth and last Resolution, they profess to extend their sym- 
pathy and regards to our soldiers in the field, assuring them that if 
their party can only get the control of the government, they shall be 
very kindly treated. Their chance of getting this control is too re- 
mote to influence any one ; and their past conduct toward these 
soldiers who have volunteered to fight, suffer, and die in aid of what 
ttfie Convention is pleased to call "an administrative usurpation of 
.extraordinary and dangerous powers, not granted by the Constitu- 
tion," will not be likely to be soon forgotten. General McClellan 
volunteered for and fought for the same alleged usurpation. 

Mr. Long — of unenviable notoriety — thinking doubtless, the cat 
to be too much concealed by meal, moved to amend the first resolu- 
tion by adding the famous "Resolutions of '98," which is the univer- 
sally acknowledged foundation and authority upon, and out of which 
■Calhoun and his followers constructed their entire secession doc- 
,lrine. Mr. Long desired to give the text as well as the commentary. 
Mr. Cox seeing that this would wipe off the meal which they had 
worked ingeniously to put upon the cat, applied the gag by moving 
ithe previous question. 

More daring and impious than all was the resolution offered by 
Mr. Lawrence, of Rhode Island, to the memory of the lamented 
Douglas, stating that their devotion to his memory was the cause of 
the Convention being held in Chicago. And that the helief that had 
he survived he would long since have restored the power of the 
"Federal Compact." He certainly could not have forgotten that 
Mr. Douglas always regarded our present as a Federal or JVaJional 
Government and always spoke of and treated it as such. The term 
"Federal Compact" belongs exclusively to the Calhoun and Jeff. 
Davis school. If the great statesman and patriot whose last words 
(after the firing upon Sumter) were, "There can be but two parties, 
open friends to the Government and traitors," had been living, does 
.any one believe such a Convention would have been held in Chicago? 
Now arttully disguised treason concocts its schemes with impunity in 
• sight of his grave! And if further or higher evidence were wanting 
of Mr. Lincoln's too great leniency and moderation in the exercise 
of the powers confided to him, the holding of such a Convention 
unmolested, certainly supplies it. And if George B. McClellan, 
of whom we once had a very good opinion, covets the fate of Ben- 
edict Arnold, he will secure it by accepting the nomination. 
Neither the prestige of his name nor that of the Democratic party 



231 



can rescue from obloquy and execration a political heresy that has 
had so much to do in inaugurating and continuing the present rebel- 
lion. It will sink them and whatever else touches it, to the bottom 
of its own loathsome pit. 

Loyal State of West Virginia,. 
Which has the singular honor and gratification of having been ignor- 
ed by this Convention. 

P. S. — We see the New York Herald and its like are laboring to 
fix the impression that Vallandigham, the Woods, and other known 
Knights had no influence in framing the platform. It is such an one 
as Jeff. Davis will accept without the dot of an i or crossing a t — 
then why not suit his employees ? It concedes the right of seces- 
sion, which is all Davis ever asked. By cessation of hostilities we 
yield all. They mean an unconditional surrender on our part — noth- 
ing less, and a change of our National Government to a mere con- 
federation of sovereign, independent States, with a right in each to 
secede at pleasure. It was upon this theory the Convention ignored 
the State of West Virginia, to wit : Because f he ordinance of seces- 
sion passed at Richmond legally transferred in their view the entire 
State from the National Union to the Southern Confederacy ; and to 
have erected a new State we should have got the consent of the 
Legislature and Congress sitting at Richmond. They ignored or re- 
jected the delegates from Louisiana and other States where secession 
ordinances had been passed solely on the ground that they regarded 
these ordinances as legal and valid. The theory and purpose we 
have ascribed to them, reconcile all their acts and doings, and wipe- 
the meal from their cat. No other will. 



232 



] Letter t'o the Intelligencer, September 9, 1864.] 

THE CHICAGO PLATFORM OF 1864— FURTHER EVI- 
DENCE THAT THE PLATFORM MEANS JUST WHAT 
WE STATED IN OUR FORMER COMMUNICATION, A 
RIGHT IN THE STATES TO SECEDE AT PLEASURE— 
WITH GEN. JACKSON'S VIEWS UPON THE SUBJECT. 

No one' who has read the proceedings of this : Convention can 
doubt but that Vallandigham was its master spirit, though studious- 
ly kept out of sight, around and to whom all revolved and conformed 
their views. He stated before going into the Convention he would 
have a peace or unconditional surrender platform,- or he would have 
none. He* was first as the leading man on the committee to frame 
it. A disagreement was expected by the public, and no one 
attributes the' want of disagreement to any surrender or yielding of 
Vallandigham 1 0$ his known satellites. It mav be affirmed then, 
that the platform is meant to conform to his views, whatever may be 
its outward guise, else would he have acquiesced in silence ? Nay, 
more, would he have given it his express sanction by moving that 
the nomination of McClellan be declared unanimous ? None can 
doubt on this point. Now what are his views on the great political 
heresy of Secession, that has caused already so great a sacrifice of 
blood and treasure ? 

In his speech in Congress February 20, 1861, he said: "It is vain 
to tell me States cannot secede— seven States have seceded. In three 
months their agents and commissioners will return from Europe with 
the recognition of Great Britain and' France, and of the other pow- 
ers of the Continent." — Record, page 76. 

Again — "Secession has-been tried, and has proved a speedy and 
terrible success. The practicability of doing it and the way to do it- 
have been established." — Record, page 87.- 

Again — "If any one or more of the States of this Unions should 
secede for reason of the sufficiency of which before God and the 
great tribunal of history alone 7iiay jiidge-^xi\x\o& as I should 
deplore it— I never would, as a Representative in the Congress of 
the United- States, vote one dollar of money whereby one drop of 
American blood should- be shed in civil war."-— Record, page 91. 



233 



Again — ''There is not a man in the House fit to be a Representa- 
tive here who does not know that the South cannot be forced to 
yield obedience to your laws and authority again." 

Again — "Accordingly I have not voted for any army or navy bill, 
nor any army or navy appropriation bill, since the meeting of Con- 
gress on the 4th of July, 186 r." — Record, page 147. 

Again — "Stop fighting, make an armistice — ?w formal treaty — ■ 
withdraw your armies from the seceded States, recall your fleets, break 
up your blockades."- — Record, page 200. 

And what then, but to abandon the Union altogether, or reunite 
on such terms as Jeff. Davis & Co. should be pleased to propose ? 

These were Vallandigham's views in 1861, and we know they 
are the same now. He has preserved his consistency, and has em- 
bodied the same views in the Chicago platform. Horatio Seymour, 
and the Woods, who raised the mobs in New York just at the fearful 
crisis of Gettysburg; and Marshal Kane, who headed the mob that 
made the first resistance on behalf of Jeff. Davis and the independ- 
ent sovereignty of States, to the Federal army in the streets of Bal- 
timore, were the next prominent members in this Convention ; and 
they also continue unchanged in their views. 

Compare the views of this Convention, which professes to repre- 
sent the Democratic party, with the views of General Jackson, the 
founder of that party, expressed in his memorable proclamation 
issued against Calhoun and nullification in 1832, and none can 
doubt but that the members of the Convention have "stolen the livery 
of Heaven to serve the Devil under." "I consider," says the old 
hero and patriot, "a power to annul a law of the United States, as- 
sumed by one State to be incompatible with the existence of the 
Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, un- 
authorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it 
is founded, and destructive of the first object for which it was 
formed." 

Again — "To say that any State may at pleasure secede from the 
Union is to say that the United States is not a Nation ; because it 
would be a solecism to contend that any part of a Nation might dis- 
solve its connection with the other parts to their injury and ruin, 
without committing an offense." 

In speaking of the right and duty of the other States to use force 
E2 



234 



to crush every attempt at secession, be makes use of this language: 
"Every one must see that the other States in self defense musi oppose 
it at all hazards" 

We would recommend a careful perusal of this proclamation and 
his message of January 17th, 1833, to this new Jeff. Davis school of 
Democracy. 

Lo^ kl State of West Virginia, 
Which has the singular honor and gratification to have been ignored 
by this Convention. 

Wells burg.,, W. Ya> 



[Letter to the Intel! gerrcer, September 12, 1864. ] 
THE CHICAGO PLATFORM OF 1864 — AN UNCONDITION- 
AL ADOPTION OF IT BY GEORGE B. McCLELLAN. 

So another cat, hitherto the most wily of them all, in> wearing the 
disguise, stands revealed to all in his true character. He has adopted 
the secession platform in each and every part. It is vain to suppose 
that he really means by the sweet sounding generalities and frequent 
professions of devotion to the national government and other stale 
and threadbare expressions of bunkum, contained in his letter of ac- 
ceptance — that he intends or desires to change it. Me no where inti- 
mates such a tuish. But in the summing up paragraph and the clos- 
ing, except the expression of his realization of the responsibilities 
that await him, if elected, and his appeal to the Ruler of the universe 
to help him — a very remote contingency for Divine help — he uses 
this language : "Believing that the views I have expressed are those, 
of the Convention' 7 (to- wit ; Vallandigham, Wood, Seymour, Mar- 
shal Kane, Pendleton, Cox, Voorhees and Company) "-and the 
people you represent" (that is, all armed rebels and their aiders and 
sympathizers in this country and in Europe,) "I accept the nomina- 
tion." The Committee presented him the platform with the notice of 
nomination, so of course he had just read that, and must have known 
it to be the embodiment of the views of the Convention. We observe 
on the same day he was waited on by August Belmonte, (a name that 
smacks of dignities and titles; who is the agent of the Rothschilds 
and Louis Napoleon in this country, and charged with accomplishing 



235 



with their money, what the rebels have failed to do by arms. Dean 
Richmond, his (Belmont's) chief of staff, and a Peter Caggar, who 
if the one we once knew, cheats the Penitentiary, if not a worse 
place, out of its dues every hour he is at large. There is no safer 
rule, especially in these times, than to judge men by the company 
they keep. 

This is the denouement of "little Mac," so long suspected by 
his countrymen. It establishes the truth of reports of his repeated 
Intercourse with rebel leaders before and since the war commenced, 
as well as a complete justification to the administration for laying 
him on the shelf. 

And this is the Democratic party of 1864, its platform and candi- 
dates — McClellan and Pendleton, who has been the open and 
avowed c&-worker with Vallandigham in the service of the Rebellion 
since it began. 

Suppose the old hero and patriot who founded the party should 
wake and come forth from the Hermitage, would he not exclaim, with 
all the energy and patriotic indignation which used to characterize 
him when traitors menaced the Government, "Ye have made my 
house a den of Traitors, and by the great Eternal if you don't leave 
the country I'll hang you as high as Haman!" Aye, he would do it, 
too, and very soon vanish from "little Mac's" dreams the nervous re- 
sponsibilities he sees awaiting him, and make him invoke Heaven to 
forgive and save his own traitorous soul, rather than help him to de- 
stroy the Government! Would to God we had a General Jackson ! 

But the damnable scheme has become too much exposed to meet 
with support from our loyal people. The severe experience and sac- 
rifice they have undergone the last four years has too much awakened 
them to bold and independent thought and action to be now cajoled, 
or seduced by such transparent folly and knavery, as a "cessation of 
hostilities" and withdrawal of our army and navy just as a complete 
victory is at hand, over a defiant and unrepentant foe. The land of 
Ethan Allen has spoken ; and soon the people of the other States 
will speak in like manner, only louder. Sherman and Atlanta have 
spoken, and Grant, Petersburg and Richmond will soon speak in 
still bolder tones; and in November, loyal hearts every where will speak 
in a voice more discomfiting to little Mac and his pandemonium, than 
even the ghost of the old hero and founder of the party would be. 

Let the loyal people stick fast to " honest Old Abe," and let him 



236* 



only put in the blows heavier and faster ; save and protect the friends 
of the Government, though it has to be done at the sacrifice of Its 
enemies, and all will be well, and he will be re-elected by the largest 
majority ever known. 

More men are wanted in the field now. If the draft be necessary 
to bring them, the Administration should at once apply it, without 
fear or favor, regardless of all threats, and meet the consequences. 
This, the true genius and safety of the government and true loyalty 
everywhere, demand at its hands. If it fails or falters, all may be lost. 

Loyal State of. West Virginia. 

P. S. We believe the leading rebels have given up all hopes of 
establishing a separate Confederacy by the present efforts, and are 
directing their energies to secure the next best thing in their view, 
to-wit : A Confederatio?i of all the States, which will carry with it a 
right in each State to secede at pleasure. And under this new ar- 
rangement, Jeff. Davis is to be the Captain, or he will secede and set 
up for himself. This is the kind of Union 'Tattle Mac," the Con- 
vention, and rebel leaders are at work for now. 



I also published, in the same paper, during the campaign, the fol- 
lowing, touching "the approaching Presidential election." 

[Letter to the Intelligencer.] 
THE APPROACHING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 

Fellow Citizens : — And by the term I mean to include all that 
still maintain to me and to .each other that dearest and tenderest of 
earthly ties which an unwavering attachment to a common country 
and flag implies. No matter in what State you may live, whether na- 
tive born or naturalized, or what guise or external appearance you 
may be constrained by external circumstances temporarily to wear, if 
at heart you are now unconditionally loyal. It behooves all such, in 
view of the momentous issues now at hand, to confer freely together, 
in order to adopt the measures most likely to advance a common in- 
terest, and that no less important than the maintenance and preserva- 
tion of the Government which our Fathers purchased at so great a 
sacrifice of blood and treasure, aud bequeathed to us in trust, to be 



237 



transmitted unimpaired to our children. I wish it were practicable 
to meet all of you in person and confer together before the election ; 
but this being impossible, I propose to confer with you through the 
Press as the next best mode. I trust our common interest in so im- 
portant a matter will furnish for me a sufficient apology. 

Taking it for granted that all earnest and patriotic people regard 
the excellence and value of our Government as A. H. Stephens, 
Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy, did, in 1861, when he 
pronounced it "the best Government the sun of Heaven ever shone 
on," I shall proceed at once to consider the following propositions : 

First — That the Government can be maintained and preserved only 
by vanquishing the rebel armies through a vigorous prosecution of 
the war. 

Second — That the people of the loyal States, if they act unitedly, 
are as competent and certain to do it as a three pound weight is cer- 
tain to weigh down one. 

Third — That the only way to accomplish it is to elect Lincoln and 
Johnson, and that we have no choice left as affairs now stand. 

I shall proceed to discuss these propositions with that candor and 
scrupulous regard for truth which a just sense of the importance of 
the subject naturally inspires. If I err it shall be an error of the 
head and not the heart. Then "censure me in your judgment, that 
you may the better judge.'' 

I assume as a fact now conceded by all earnest and patriotic men, 
that the rebel leaders, who govern and control their armies, aim either 
at breaking up the Government and establishing a new one within its 
domains, or, failing in this, to reconstruct what, in their minds is 
already a broken and disrupted Government in such manner as to 
embody therein the right in each State to secede at pleasure. That 
the hope and determination in them to accomplish the former has 
existed for more than thirty years. Mr. Calhoun first conceived 
the scheme as early as 1828 ; and in 1830, while presiding over the 
Senate as Vice President of the United States, he induced Robert 
Y. Haynes, then regarded as his ablest disciple, to broach the doc- 
trine of secession in that body, in the celebrated discussion on the 
Foote resolutions, whom Mr. Webster answered, demolishing 
Haynes and his secession doctrine, as honest men supposed, forever. 
Mr. Haynes died soon after, but not the secession doctrine. Mr. 
Calhoun, mortified and not a little enraged at this defeat, resigned 



238 



his office of Vice President in order to be returned a member to the 
Senate, where he could in person take charge of the new bantling. 
He continued to advocate and push its pretentions till it culminated 
in 1832 in Nullification by South Carolina and a total demolition of it 
again by General Jackson, and the near escape of Calhoun's neck 
from the halter. This second signal defeat, while it suppressed in 
Calhoun further overt acts of treason, only served to increase his 
anger and strengthen his determination. Soon after this he substi- 
tuted the Slave for the Tariff question as the fittest subject for unit- 
ing the entire South and "firing the Southern heart." At this time 
the present lenders of the rebellion were his young disciples, sitting 
like Paul at Gamaliel's feet, and imbibed the maddening draughts 
of treason. They dug up the now famous "resolutions of '98-9," 
and grossly perverting their meaning from what their authors declared 
they intended, they succeeded by thirty years constant labor in edu- 
cating the Southern mind, as well as many of the Northern demo- 
crats into the belief of the secession doctrine, and all the while were 
"firing the Southern heart" by preaching to the Southern people the 
insecurity of their slave property under the National Government. 
Jefferson Davis imbibed not only Calpioun's poison, but his inor- 
dinate love of power and ambitious aspirations. Calhoun's sun set 
while giants yet stood on our country's watchtowers, and without 
consummating the great scheme of his life — the breaking up of the 
government and establishment of a monarchy on its ruins. He took 
care to bequeath the consummation of his scheme with the avenge- 
ment of his personal griefs with minute instructions to his disciples — 
the most trusted of whom and principal executor of the trust was 
Jefferson Davis. What has occurred since Calhoun's death in 
1850 is too painfully familiar to all to justify repeating. It may be 
safely said that the disciple has far excelled his master in boldness 
of execution, if nothing more. Amid all the changes and terrible 
threatenings that have taken place during the present war, and as 
late as his interview with Colonel Jacques and Mr. Gilmore, Davis 
has declared his purpose to be "absolute independence for the 
Southern Confederacy, and that it was useless for the government or 
any one else to approach him with any other purpose." He still 
holds in his hands the shattered remnant of an immense army, he 
has worked incessantly ever since his master's death to organize, dis- 
cipline and make ready. So stands our armed enemy to-day, and 
the man whose will and power governs and controls it. 



2311 



Now how is this enemy to be gotten ricl of? This is the question. 
The Chicago Convention informs us that the only way it can be done 
is for the Government to declare at once a "cessation of hostilities," 
which necessarily implies a withdrawal of our armies from the terri- 
tory he claims ; call in our navy, raise the blackade, and then pro- 
pose to Jeff. Davis that a Convention of delegates, to be chosen in 
all the States, to whom the settlement of the matters shall be re- 
ferred. Now, knowing what we do of J eff. Davis and his constantly 
avowed determination, can any man in his senses believe he would 
accept the offer at all, or if so, with any other view but to accomplish 
by diplomacy and fraud what he despairs of obtaining by arms, if 
the Government continues vigorously to prosecute the war-? And 
suppose he should accept the offer with the view mentioned, and it 
would certainly be with no other, it would place the Government 
completely in his power. To elect the delegates and get them to- 
gether from Oregon, California and other distant parts would require 
five or six months at least. And after the Convention should assem- 
ble, the Southern delegates would have it in their power to prolong 
the session twelve months more, making eighteen months, and then 
break up in a row. This would give to Davis time to repair his 
losses. His army would not be disbanded, but go to work in all 
forms, strengthening and repairing, still preserving .their organization, 
so as to be placed in line of battle at any time at the mere tap of 
the drum or sound of the bugle. The blockade being raised and 
Commerce restored, with the Government of the Southern Confed- 
eracy in full operation all the while — with the implied consent at 
least of the old Government — can any one doubt that in such a case- 
England and France would acknowledge their independence, form 
an alliance, offensive and defensive, and if not openly so, the rebels* 
friends and confederates abroad would supply them with everything 
needed, including men. So they would, at the end of twelve or 
eighteen months, be as strong as at the commencement of the war. 

Now how would it be with the old Government ? Our armies 
would have to be withdrawn from the Southern soil, all territory that 
we have re-possessed during the war relinquished, most of our soldiers'" 
times would have expired, ?.nd until then the whole to be allowed their 
pay and rations, at the expense of a million or two a day, and all 
such as remained would become hopelessly demoralized. 

This is the exact state of things that must occur if the plan pro- 



240 



posed by the Chicago Convention and endorsed by McClellan and 
Pendleton, should be carried into practice ; and I challenge any 
rebel or copperhead to show that the plan they propose can be car- 
ried into practice with any different results. The Convention pro- 
poses this plan, because the war so far has been in violation of the 
Constitution "in every part," and an "Administrative, usurpation of 
extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the Constitution," 
in all of which McClellan volunteered to participate for over two 
years as Commander-in-Chief, or as Corps Commander, until shelved 
contrary to his wish, and still retains his commission and accepts his 
pay ; and in his letter of acceptance he avows that he believes his 
views agree with the views of the Convention in every particular ! 
Taken as a whole, I am brought to the painful conclusion that it is no 
more nor less than a branch of Jeff Davis' great scheme of fraud, 
violence and treason, and that all connected with it are as guilty as 
Davis himself, with all the meanest passions of our nature super- 
added. 

Wo'uld Jeff Davis, think you, consent to lay down his arms on such 
a surrender on our side and go into Convention with men he rates 
worse than "hyenas" for the purpose of arranging terms on which he 
is passively to surrender up the great work of his life and sole object 
of his ambition ?. Did Calhoun, his great prototype and master, act 
in that manner ? Do you think Gen. Jackson could have been con- 
ciliated out of his opposition to the United States Bank, or to John 
C. Calhoun and his nullification ? Or do you think Calhoun would 
have knocked under if he had had the army and people Jeff. Davis 
now has, and General Jackson had been as powerless as the Gov- 
ernment would be with the Chicago Platform carried into practice ? 
Grim terror alone ever turns such men from a great and cherished 
purpose. But to bring it nearer home, can you hope to conciliate 
or persuade your neighbor passively to surrender to you the fruits 
and hope of his whole life's labor ? No, fellow-citizens, it is contrary 
to every principle of our nature — "trust it not, it will prove a snare 
to your feet." 

I aver, therefore, without fear of contradiction from any loyal 
man, that the only way left for getting rid of the rebellion and sav- 
ing the Government is to crush and scatter its army by a vigorous 
prosecution of the war, which Lieutenant General Grant. and his 
gallant army are now doing most effectually. The heaviest blows 



241 



by our army upon the leaders, and all who adhere to them — with 
President Lincoln's Amnesty standing wide open for the full for- 
giveness and pardon of all below the rank of Colonel, is the true 
and only way to get rid of the rebellion and its leaders, and in this 
way it is soon to be accomplished. A CITIZEN. 

Wellsburg, W. Va., October 7, 1864. 



[Letter to the Intelligencer.] 
THE APPROACHING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 

Fellow Citizens : — The people of the loyal States possess the 
amplest ability and power to wipe out the last vestige of rebellion, 
and that speedily. That the enemy has got to the end of his tether, 
both as regards men and money, is a conceded fact by all, even the 
enemy himself. His armies, under Hood and Early, are either 
killed, captured, scattered or demoralized. The army of Lee is all 
that remains of importance, and that is far inferior to our forces 
about Richmond ; and our army under Sherman was never in better 
condition. Besides, we have not yet called more than one-third of 
our fighting men to the field. Visit our cities and villages, and travel 
upon our railroads, and we are scarcely able to miss any. Our 
money, the "sinews of war," advanced in the last few days 100 per 
cent. — the last sale being $1.85 — and the price of goods have 
already begun to fall in the market correspondingly — which is owing 
solely to the recent brilliant success of our arms. Compare our's 
with the enemy's currency, which has become nearly or quite worth- 
less. A common calico dress costs in their money at Richmond 
$175; a pair of women's shoes of ordinary quality $125, and a pair 
of children's $105, and other necessaries of life in like proportion. 

This we know from unimpeachable evidence. Behold the swarms 
of deserters and refugees naked, famishing and pennyless, flocking to 
our lines from the land of Dixie, and listen to their story of suffering, 
destitution and oppression that hold universal reign there ; and then 
bear in mind that this is the bastard Government, the author ot all 
this suffering and woe — that the Chicago Platform now summons 
twenty million of freemen to lav down their arms and make an un- 
conditional surrender to, and become as deplorable as its present 
¥2 



242 



subjects are. Here let me ask the attention of the hypocritical par- 
tisan croakers among us (generally property less and humanityless) 
that are constantly whining about the magnitude of our Government 
debt, and the shedding of blood. This debt in June last amounted 
to only $72.91 to a person, when equally distributed among the peo- 
ple of the loyal States, leaving out of account the people in Rebel- 
lion, who ought to be made to pay the whole when vanquished, as 
they began the conflict. Is any one so white-livered as to be fright- 
ened at this ? If there is and I should appeal to him to get out of 
such a shameful predicament and stop whining, I should expect such 
an answer as the valorous husband gave to his wife, after she had 
driven him with her broom under the bed, and bade him under pain 
of further brooming not to peek out from under the hanging cover- 
lid — firmly and resolutely declared that "he mould peek so k>n*g as 
he had the spirit of a man in him." All such as stop now to talk 
about the magnitude of the debt, I would ask to look and consider 
the ways of that man who after getting a charter and having expend- 
ed only one-eighth of his ready means in constructing a toll bridge 
to within a few feet of the opposite shore — should all at once stop 
from fear of the expense, and decline to make the completion which 
would render the whole outlay highly remunerative, and save him- 
self from becoming the laughing stock of all. Such as have all at 
once expressed their horror at the further shedding of blood, I 
would ask what they think of the humanity of the frontier settler 
who had been endeavoring for years to destroy an old she wolf that 
prowled about his premises,, and had devoured not only his pigs, 
poultry and sheep, but some of his children, should, upon being, 
advised that his neighbors had at last denned the monster, and re- 
quested that his boy or himself should bring a gun to dispatch it, he 
should decline the request and open fire upon his neighbors, instead 
of the wolf, from the rear. And of those who approve the Chicago 
Platform, and sympathize with its candidates — I would ask, how they 
would regard the inhabitant of a dry and corabustable prairie, who ? 
on discovering, at the windward of his house, a fire kindled and 
spreading, summoned his household, and rushed to the spot ; and 
after getting it under control and encompassing it with an impassable 
girdle, but leaving open a small space opposite his dwelling, he and 
his household folded their arms, retired to their house and passively- 
surveyed the approaching and spreading flames until prairie, house 
and all were consumed ! Does not "the cessation of hostilities" as 



243 



proposed by the Chicago Convention invite Jeff. Davis and his con- 
suming hosts to every peaceful house in the loyal States as unmis- 
takably as this prairie settler invites the general conflagration in his 
case ? Or, do they really think to extinguish Jf.ff. Davis and all his 
guerrillas, desperadoes and robbers with coHciliatwu, and their other 
warlike water gruels of the same sort. 

The people of the loyal States possess then the amplest ability 
.and j ©wer to speedily crush the rebellion and vindicate the govern- 
ment if they will but unite and make the proper use of the means 
they have. 

But suppose our loyal people fail to unite, and thereby sacrifice our 
glorious free government, not only to ourselves and posterity, but to 
the oppressed lovers of freedom throughout the world, will the broad 
record of our race furnish an example of such self-abasement and 
voluntary destruction ? And before God, I believe the election of 
Lincoln and Johnson, with the defeat of the Chicago Platform and 
its candidates, is the only event that can save us. 

A CITIZEN. 

W-ellsburGj W- Va., October io, 1864. 



[Letter te the Intelligencer.] 
THE APPROACHING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION — REA- 
SONS WHY WE SHOULD VOTE FOR LINCOLN AND 
JOHNSON. 

Fellow Citizens : — In the third place let us consider the reasons 
why we should vote for Lincoln and Johnson. The President, as 
you all know, is made by the Constitution the head of the civil gov- 
ernment, and also Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of 
the United States, that is, the head of the military side also. In 
times of war like the present, as such military head, he possesses 
unlimited powers so far as the management and conduct of the 
army and navy are concerned, subject only to the established arti- 
cles of war. He has the power to proclaim a "cessation of hostili- 
ties," withdraw our armies from Southern soil, recall our navy, raise 
thereby the blockade, and open a free Commerce between 
other Nations and the Southern Confederacy, standing all the while 
-clothed with the essentials that constitute an independent Nation. 



244 



This would be virtual acknowledgment by us. Foreign powers would 
at once acknowledge, and there would be the end of the matter, and 
end of us also. 

This is exactly what the Chicago Convention promises when it 
proclaims a "cessation of hostilities." Presidents we know are as 
liable to die as other people, and in that event the Constitution de- 
volves all these powers upon the Vice President, that is, upon Mr. 
Pendleton, if their ticket should be elected, who thereby becomes 
the President. Now what earnest patriotic man is there, who would 
not rather trust Jeff. Davis than Pendleton ? The record of the 
latter establishes as full and clear proof of disloyalty as Davis' does. 
Davis stands open and above board in his true character ; while 
Pendleton attempts to cloak his no less hostile sentiments with the 
professions of loyalty — the one an open public enemy — the other an 
enemy in disguise — a spy, which the usages of war hang as a felon, 
And the recent acceptance by McClellan of the Chicago Platform, 
after the high trusts and favors he has received, places him in the 
minds of honest men far below either. 

Now let me lift the cloak of Democracy and show you the leaders 
of the Chicago Convention. There is Vallandigham, the martyr, 
as the faithful style him, but as everybody knows, a convicted traitor. 
He agrees to all their doings, and moves that the nomination of Mc- 
Clellan be declared unanimous. There is Fernando Wood and 
Ben., his brother, authors of the new gospel of Peace; and Seymour. 
These organized and headed the mobs of New York City to act as 
Committee of reception, at that city, of General Lee and his army, 
had they not been unexpectedly detained at Gettysburg. There is 
Olds, and Cox, and Voorhees, and Marshal Kane, who headed 
the mobs in Baltimore, and Alex. Long. There is Auguste Bel- 
mont, the known agent for the Confederate bond holders in Europe, 
and Chairman of the National Democratic Committee, as the faithful 
style it, but in fact with George Sanders & Co., at the Clifton 
House, it is the Northern branch of the great Rebel Conspiracy. 
This Belmont is intent on one thing, that is, to fix things so that 
these bonds shall be paid — the bottoms of the original signers hav- 
ing fallen out. There is Dean Richmond and Peter Caggar and 
others of their kind, who, like vultures, are always hovering wherever 
desolation, disintegration, and decomposition are threatened. Then 
the group yonder, are the post-riders and telegraph operators who 
conduct the communications between this body and George San- 



245 



ders & Co., at the Clifton House. And then that dim outline of a 
man, sitting yonder, is the shadow of all that remains of Amos Ken- 
dall, now demented and in utter dotage. He was once, you re- 
member, a member of General Jackson's Cabinet — Postmaster-Gen- 
eral Fearing such profanation of the name of Democracy might 
evoke the ghost of its founder, and mindful of the opinion that spirit 
had of Calhoun and treason while in the body, they dug up the old 
fossil and transported him thither with a view to appease and hood- 
wink the old heme's ghost, and honest and unsuspecting people gener- 
ally. But I perceive you, like myself, are becoming weary ot the 
sight — I drop the curtain. 

Now, you perceive that every block that enters into their pyramid of 
treason, except, perhaps, that nonentity, Amos Kendall, is simon 
pure, with no spot or blemish of loyalty ; and "Little Mac" has be- 
come the cap-stone. Now of whatever nature this last man is, like 
every other cap-stone, he must depend for support on whatever is 
beneath him. Be he fish or fowl the rebels have swallowed him, and 
he is to be digested and assimilated, if need be, so as to nourish the 
rebel body. 

Now let us turn for a moment from this painful spectacle to Lin- 
coln and Johnson, scornfully styled by these agents of treason and 
collectors of rebel debts already protested, "The Rail Splitter and 
Tailor." Their contempt for these noble men shows their contempt 
for our glorious institutions, that have enabled them to rise from these 
humble, but useful and honorable callings, to the proudest stations 
on earth. They are such Ri-vers and Sew-ers as will cleave down 
the Confederacy, and stitch up its winding sheet. They are fit illus- 
trations of the inestimable value of our institutions. The humblest 
boy in the land can attain to the same proud eminence. And well 
can these great and good men exclaim to the Chicago renegades as 
the celebrated Tristam Burgess did to John Randolph in the 
United States Senate, who taunted him with having been born a 
cooper. "Aye, sir," said that old "bald Eagle," "and I made the 
best barrels in all Rhode Island, and the difference between me and 
the gentleman is, if he had been born a cooper, he would have been 
a cooper still." Having cast my first vote for General Jackson at 
the time he was demolishing Calhoun and his nullification, having 
supported Mr. Douglas at the last election, and having never re- 
ceived nor asked any favors of the present Administration, nor ex- 
pect to, I have nevertheless been brought to the belief that no man 



246 



living could have administered the Government, considering the un- 
exampled difficulties and embarrassments that have surrounded it, 
more honestly, more devotedly, and more successfully than Mr. Lin- 
coln has done. I have no doubt he will do so in future ; and if it 
•shall please God at any time to call him to a higher sphere of duties, 
Mr. Johnson is the man to supply his place. Besides, every truly 
loyal man feels that the dignity of the Government requires that since 
the rebellion was commenced professedly against Mr. Lincoln, the 
rebels should be ma.de to ground their arms at his feet. This only 
will properly vindicate the government. 

If there are any who are charmed and allured by the mere name 
of Democracy, which our opponents have stolen and got under as 
the other animal got under the lion skin, I would beg them to ob- 
serve where the eminent Democrats, statesmen and heroes of the 
General Jackson school, stand in this issue — Lewis Cass, Daniel S. 
Dickinson, Generals Wool, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Meade, 
Hooker, Butler, Rosecrans, Burnside, Logan, Dix, Meagher, 
Sickles, McCall, Com. Farragut, and a host of others, whose 
names and deeds will illuminate the history of the country and the 
world, when the names of this Chicago junto will be remembered 
only for their treason. And if any ask for further avowals of their 
purpose than "cessation of hostilities," &c, implies, I answer, they pro- 
pose to wipe out the State of West Virginia and all the re-organized 
governments — remand the gallant and loyal men that have participat- 
ed therein back to their former and now infuriated oppressors, to be 
hung and their property confiscated for treason committed against 
sovereign States — disarm and divest our gallant colored troops, and 
deliver them up to their former masters ; and indemnify the rebels 
for the damages and expense of the war! These among other ob- 
jects they openly avow. 

Before closing let me speak a word of advice to voters holding a 
joint and common interest with myself in this best of governments. 
We are the sovereigns and hold the power. In times as perilous as 
the present we all have a direct and vital interest in each others 
votes. While each has the right to cast his vote as he honestly be- 
lieves the best interest of the country, in which we all have a com- 
mon interest demands, still our relations to each other in this respect 
are not unlike those of co-partners in their stock of goods. Each 
has a right but he is bound to exercise it so as not to injure his co- 



247 



partner. If any should vote corruptly under the influence of bribes 
of drams of liquor, money or other thing ■ or negligently, without first 
informing himself by all the means within his reach and freeing his 
mind of partisan prejudioe as far as possible, or suffer himself to be 
dictated to by others, be they who they may — you will agree with me 
in saying that such persons commit a graat wrong, which must in the 
minds of earnest and patriotic men fix a stigma upon them and their 
children. It will be a most apt occasion for our adopted citizens to 
refute the charge of disloyalty and want of attachment to our Institu- 
tions, heretofore urged by the Know Nothing party, by standing firm- 
ly by that Government which has given them an asylum from the 
oppression of their Father-land, and admitted them on such generous 
and easy terms to all the rights and privileges of citizenship ; and 
which is still holding out the same precious boon to millions of their 
countrymen, groaning under the heels of the old despotisms, the like 
of which Jeff. Davis and the Chicago Convention are now laboring 
to establish in this country. Your conduct in the coming election 
will not only affect yourselves and children, but the welfare and 
standing of your countrymen that shall hereafter immigrate. The trial 
will be severe, but the Government will triumph. Mark that. This 
election will determine who are its friends and who its enemies. My 
earnest prayer is that my adopted fellow citizens shall stand to the 
old flag as nobly and gallantly at the ballot box as they have on the 
battle field. I have ventured these remarks not only because I have 
a direct and vital interest in every man's vote, as he has in mine, but 
because I desire to see all my fellow citizens so acquit themselves in 
the great crisis as shall secure the approval of their own conscience 
and all earnest and patriotic men. 

"Hearts within and God o'erhead," let all loyal men stand unitedly 
up to the great work — 

"Perish party, perish clan; 

Strike for Freedom while we can — 

Like the arm of one strong man !" 

A CITIZEN. 

Wellsburg, W. Va., October n, 1864. 



November 8th, 1864, the Presidential election took place, in the 
twenty-five loyal States. The number of Electors chosen was 234 ; 
of whom 213 were for Lincoln and Johnson, and 21 for McClellan 



248 



and Pendleton — those of Kentucky, New Jersey and Delaware only. 
The popular vote for the former, was 2,203,831 ; for the latter, 1,797,- 
019. The popular vote of West Virginia was 23,152 for the former; 
and 10,438 for the latter. Whereas, no man, I think, was more pop- 
ular with loyal West Virginians, than Gen. McClellan, in 1861, when 
in command of that Department. So much for his subsequent defec- 
tion and alliance with the rebel cause ! So the rebel leaders, by this 
desperate move, only united and strengthened, instead of dividing and 
weakening the loyal people. 

Their next move was, I think, through Hon. Francis P. Blair, Sr., 
to open negotiation with the authorities at Washington, for a settle- 
ment between the "two governments" as Mr. Davis styled it. After, 
much correspondence, Commissioners Stephens, Hunter and Camp- 
bell were permitted to pass through our lines, and proceed to 
Hampton Roads, where President Lincoln and Secretary Sbward 
met them in friendly conference, the 30th January, 1865, which, of 
course, resulted in nothing, as the Rebel Commissioners were auth- 
orized only to treat and negotiate as representatives of a distinct and 
independent government. 

As Sherman, with his victorious army, was daily, and almost with- 
out opposition, subduing the interior of rebeldom, and Grant was 
contracting his lines about Richmond, the Rebel leaders felt there 
was no time te lose. Their next move was, that the Commanders of 
the opposing armies in the field, should agree on the terms of peace. 
This, of course, our government declined. The Rebel Congress, 
about this time, having lost confidence in Mr. Davis, made Lee their 
Generalissimo, who, with their other prominent military men, appre- 
ciated the situation. This exasperated Mr. Davis, and made him 
more desperate and unwise. Their treatment of our prisoners of 
war, and other measures they resorted to, violative of the rules of 
civilized warfare, and some absolutely fiendish, have become matters 
of history. 

Their next move appears to have been to forcibly seize Mr. Lin- 
coln, and take him to Richmond, and hold him as a prisoner of war 
and hostage, when they should surrender. Failing in this, their final 
and crowning plan seems to have been to decapitate the Government 
at Washington outright, by assassinating, simultaneously, the Presi- 
dent and Vice-President, Secretaries Seward and Stanton, and 
Lieutenant General Grant. What took place is known. And if all 



249 



had been accomplished that was contemplated, our National Govern- 
ment would have been Constitutionally decapitated — without a Presi- 
dent, or Vice-President, without a President of the Senate, pro. tem., 
or Speaker of the House of Representatives — the only persons the 
Constitution and Laws devolved the duties upon. The Thirty-Eighth 
Congress had expired, and its officers with it ; the Thirty-Ninth Con- 
gress elect, had no Constitutional right to convene until the first 
Monday of the succeeding December, unless earlier convened by the 
President, or Executive head — and there would have been no such 
head. The then existing law required the Secretary of State, in 
case of a vacancy in the offices of both President and Vice-President, 
to notify the Governors of the several States, whose duty it was made 
to order electors of President and Vice-President to be chosen or 
appointed in their respective States, in a specified time. For this 
reason, probably, they included Secretary Seward in their proscribed 
list, while Secretary Stanton's and Gen. Grant's connection and in- 
fluence with the army and loyal people caused them, also, to be in- 
cluded — Generals Sherman and Sheridan being absent. 

I never could believe it was feelings of personal malice towards 
the proscribed, that prompted so desperate a measure on the part of 
the Rebel leaders, who were generally persons of enlarged culture, 
and still commanded the confidence and respect of their confederate 
followers ; while the intended victims had certainly borne them- 
selves during the terrible conflict, in their complete triumph, and gen- 
erous terms for surrender, in a manner to excite respect and esteem 
for them personally, though they had been public enemies. It was a 
mistaken and unwise policy that prompted the measure — a policy 
conceived in desperation, and utter despair of realizing anything for 
so great a sacrifice and hope — but utter ruin. So I believe, the lead- 
ers viewed it. But -1 believe, they erred greatly, and destroyed their 
greatest and truest friend, when Mr. Lincoln fell — and in this belief, 
I think, nearly all the South now, concur. 

Some of the Radicals, after their break with President Johnson, 
insinuated that he was Confederate in the measure. This always 
seemed to me absurd, and without any foundation. He was the most 
hated and feared of any by the rebels, who would never have thought of 
killing Mr. Lincoln, and leaving Mr. Johnson alive. He had been 
one of them until, as they viewed it, he treacherously deserted their 
cause — and this view, the statement of Mr Davis at Charlotte, N. C, 
to General Bre< k.en ridge, and Mr. Louis P. Bates, confirms. 
G2 



250 

If they had succeeded in decapitating the Government, as con- 
templated, the general anarchy anticipated, would not have lasted 
long. The loyal army, and citizens would have resolved themselves 
into a Vigilance Committee, and soon supplied all necessary govern- 
ment agents or officers. They were, indeed, as a general thing, in- 
dividual sovereigns, each competent to set up and manage a govern- 
ment. In that consisted their peculiar excellence and power in any 
emergency. No permanent decapitation of the Government,, could 
have occurred without decapitating the loyal individuals. 

Thus, by surrender of the Rebel army soon after, practically end'edl 
the slaveholders' great Rebellion, whicl had shaken the civilized 
world. And if their wisdom and practical sense, had come anywhere 
near their valor, perseverance and self-sacrifice, they would never 
have gotten into the predicament, but ciung to the Old Government 
and Flag,, which belonged to them — they having been tide to both,, 
while others had violated — and sought redress u in the Union," and 
through the Union. In that event, the entire free States portion of 
the Democratic party would have cordiallv co-operated, including the 
cowardly dough-faced leaders, who, after promising as largely as the 
Devil on the Mount, and thereby inciting their Southern allies to un- 
dertake the fearful leap — slunk into their holes and hid, at the first 
clash of arms; and became afterwards, what were known as "Peace 
Democrats," whose chaiacter has already been depicted. And as a 
general thing, the "dyed-in-the-wool" Abolitionists of the free States,, 
and ranting fire-eaters of the South, behaved in about the same way. 
The two extremes had "raised the whirlwind," and then left it for 
others to manage as best they could, the existence of the Government 
being the stake ! The Confederates taken together, may be said to 
have sacrificed all property but their lands, and more than a half 
million of lives. 

Of the great perils through which the Government passed, none 
appears to me, on looking back, to have been more eminent than the 
Presidential election crisis, in the twenty-five loyal States,. November 8, 
1864, as the results show. For while Lincoln and Johnson got 213 
of the 234 Electors chosen, they had but 406,812 majority in a popu- 
lar vote cast, of 4,000,850 — while all Rebeldom, of course, stood op- 
posed. 

On this majority of one in every ten voters in the twenty- five loyal 
States her life hung; while Rebeldom was plying its arms with des- 
perate vigor and some success against our armies, and civilians 



251 



wlserever opportunity offered. Its unprincipled, desperate, and un- 
scrupulous allies, throughout the twenty-five loyal States, Canada, 
England, France, and Imperial Mexico, were doing, mostly in secret, 
what now stands revealed 1 In such a vote by the inhabitants of the 
twenty-five loyal States, on so plain an issue, which involved- the life 
*G)f the Government, I see little in the achievement, taken as a 
whole, that reflects credit for either intelligence or patriotism. It 
shows on how frail a thread, politically, the life of the Government 
foung, after three year.} and a fealfs fighting. How profound should 
be our gratitude for the noble friendship exhibited by Russia! 

The rebel armies surrendered on terms both noble and generous, 
proposed by Mr. Lincoln, with the concurrence of his Cabinet and 
Generals, These terms, some feared at the time, were too liberal for 
-safety. But their religious observance, afterwards, by General Lee 
•and his army, including even guerrillas, abundantly showed that this 
spirit of liberality touched the heart, and won a pledge of personal 
Sionor from every Confederate soldier ; and the fidelity with which 
that pledge has been kept, has scarcely a parallel in ancient or mod- 
ern times. 

Thus all armed resists/race to the Government ceased, leaving our 
system of civil polity, including State and National Governments, un- 
changed, save tihe wear m.d tear of the war and its incidents — the 
principal of which was the emancipation of about 4,000,000 slaves of 
African descent. It then devolved on the Victors, who were in full 
possession of the Government, with Mr. Johnson installed as Presi- 
dent, to restore and rehabilitate the States, provide for the Freedmen 
in their new relation to the Government, and dispose of the leaders 
of the Rebellion as .true State policy and future peace and safet}' 
■required. This was a difficult and delicate task, requiring enlightened 
statesmanship, profound political wisdom, and exalted patriotism. 
What the victors and vanquished have done, and are doing, belongs 
to general history. 

All armed resistance to the Government .having ceased, and the 
establishment of the new -State thereby made certain and sure, my 
interest in party politics in a great measure ceased ; but not my solic- 
itude for the future welfare, prosperity and happiness of my country, 
•and every part thereof. I have published some through the Press, 
-and written more — touching various questions as they have arisen 
since — some of which I propose to insert for what they are worth, 
with necessary explanations, 



253 



WHAT WEST VIRGINIA DID. 
The West Virginia Legislature at its session in 1865, in contem- 
plation of an early collapse of the Confederacy, and return of We^t 
Virginia Rebels to their former homes, with feelings inimical to the 
new State and its laws, passed the 25th of February, 1865, as a pro- 
tective and prudential measure, a law of which the following is an 
extract. Theretofore the disguised Rebels among us, as a general 
thing, had not deigned to participate in what they styled a "Bogus 
Concern." 

"2. If the vote of any person offering to vote at any election shall 
be challenged by any voter present, the supervisor and the inspectors 
of the election shall refuse to allow such person to vote until he shall 
produce to them an affidavit as follows : 

"Township o f ■•■ - — county, to-wit: 

"I, A. B., (name of affiant,) do solemnly swear that I have never 
voluntarily borne arms against the United States, the re-organized 
government of Virginia, or the State of West Virginia ; that I have 
never voluntarily given aid, comfort or assistance to persons engaged 
in armed hostility against the United States, the re-organized govern- 
ment of Virginia, or the State of West Virginia ; that I have not at 
any time sought, accepted, exercised, or attempted to exercise any 
office or appointment whatever, under any authority or pretended au- 
thority hostile or inimical to the United States, the re -organized gov- 
ernment of Virginia, or the State of West Virginia ; that I have not 
at any time yielded a voluntary support to any government, or pre- 
tended government, power or Constitution within the United States, 
hostile or inimical thereto, or hostile or inimical to the re-organized 
government of Virginia, or the State of West Virginia ; that 1 mil 
support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution 
of the State of W r est Virginia; and that I take this oath freely, with- 
out any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.'' 

"Such affidavit shall be subscribed by the party making the same, 
and may be sworn to before the supervisor or one of the inspectors 
of the election at which he offers to vote, or before any person au- 



254 



thorized to administer oaths ; and the taking of any such affidavit 
falsely shall be perjury, of which the party may be convicted in any 
court having jurisdiction of the offence. Every affidavit so taken as 
aforesaid, shall be delivered to the inspectors of the election, and 
shall be by them returned to the office of the recorder of their 
County, whose duty it shall be to file and preserve the same in his 
office. But this section shall not apply to any person who has here- 
tofore volunteered in the military service of the United States, and 
who has been or may hereafter be honorably discharged therefrom." 



The i st of March following it passed a joint resolution, proposing 
to amend the State Constitution by incorporating the following : 

"Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, The following is 
proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of this State, to be 
added at the end of the first section of the third article thereof, to 
become part of the said Constitution when ratified according to the 
provisions thereof, namely : 

"No person who, since the first day of June, i86i, has given or 
shall give voluntary aid or assistance to the rebellion against the 
United States, shall be a citizen of this State, or be allowed to vote 
at any election held therein, unless he has volunteered into the mili- 
tary or naval service of the United States, and has been or shall be 
honorably discharged therefrom. 

"Adopted, March i, 1865.'* 



The same Legislature abolished absolutely, the small remnant of 
Slavery within the State, and instructed its Senators, and requested 
its Representatives in Congress, to vote in favor of the Thirteenth 
Amendment to the National Constitution as proposed, and then 
pending. The same and subsequent Legislature made the taking of 
a. similar expurgatory and citizenizing oath, a prerequisite for hold- 
ing any office of trust under the State, of sueing in its Courts, or 
practicing law at their bar. These became known as the "Test 
Oaths" — about which much has been said and written. 

After the surrender of the Confederate Armies, its members from 



255 



West Virginia, especially such as had been to the front, returned to 
their former homes with thankful hearts for the generous terms on 
which they had been permitted to surrender, These, with scarcely 
an exception, accepted and submitted to the New State and its laws 
as they found them, and as the terms of their surrender required. 

It was the stay-at-home rebel sympathizers, whose past conduct 
in regard to the war, and New State, had rendered unpopular, con- 
spicuously aided by the returned Virginia Politicians who had spent 
four years in Dixie, seeking for their "lost rights" elsewhere than in 
the Confederate army, or within the smell of gunpowder, that created 
the fuss and contention afterwards experienced — aided I think, in 
some degree, by the unwisdom of the party in power. 

The natural and unbroken affiliation of these two classes (whose 
aim and aspiration were to possess the offices with the emoluments) at 
once coalesced and formed what was known as the "Conservative 
party." 

Their first move was to possess themselves of the offices of the 
New State through the votes of disfranchised ex-rebels. To accom- 
plish this they had got to get rid of the law passed the 25th of Feb- 
ruary, 1865, before quoted. Their programme was to procure that 
law to be disregarded by the officers having charge of the elections 
throughout the State. Daniel Lamb, Esq., of Wheeling, was applied 
to by their confederates, the Supervisors of Ohio County, as to the 
constitutionality of the law. He gave in September, 1865, a long^ 
written opinion, declaring the law unconstitutional and void, and 
should therefore be disregarded by all officers superintending the 
elections. 

The then Attorney General, the Hon. E. B. Hall, at the instance 
of Government officers, gave his written opinion, asserting the law to 
be constitutional and obligatory upon all Superintendents of Elec- 
tions. The Hon. Nathaniel Harrison, then Judge of the Ninth 
Judicial Circuit, gave his written opinion to the same effect. The 
Conservative leaders were then everywhere at w r ork, filling the press 
with sentiments opposed to the validity of the law. As a loyal citi- 
zen and candidate for no office, I published the following letter in 
the Wheeling Intelligencer touching the question : 



250 



THE POLITICAL STATUS OF THE REBELS OF THIS 
STATE— HAVE THEY THE RIGHT TO VOTE? 
Gentleme?i : — I read in your paper of yesterday the letters of 
Daniel Lamb, Esq., and Judge Harrison, of Greenbrier, touching 
this deeply interesting subject. I think Judge Harrison takes the 
correct view, and one that should govern the action of Supervisors 
and Inspectors in the election. I think Mr. Lamb is radically wrong 
in his position regarding, as he does, the test oath, as containing 
something the Constitution does not authorize, when it is intended to 
be a means or mode merely of determining the pre-requisite of citi- 
zenship. The object of the law was to keep traitors who have for- 
feited all civil rights under the loyal government, from doing, through 
the ballot-box, what they have failed to do by arms, until such times 
as they shall have "shown fruits meet for repentance." It can de- 
prive no loyal man of his vote, but only furnishes him the means to 
protect himself and government against an unrepentant foe, whose 
malicious venom is now being disclosed in the Wirtz trial, at Wash- 
ington, and which every act of their rebellion illustrates ; and within 
a day or two in South Carolina, by electing the notorious Wade 
Hampton a delegate, and then exulting over the defeat of loyal men. 
This is the real animus everywhere, as well in West Virginia as in 
South Carolina, and he is either a sympathizer or blind, who does 
not see it. It requires time, and that self-respect and dignified de- 
portment on our part, that shall cor.vi ice them that we know our 
rights, and are fully determined to maintain them and' the Govern-, 
meht in peace as we have in war ; that we have upheld the Govern- 
ment against their armed assaults, and that we can do it against their 
wily machinations. Let this be done with kindness, and at the same 
time with proper assurance and self-respect. Such a course will in 
time fit them to become good citizens, and as soon as fitted, admit 
them cheerfully to full rights, but not before. We have been fooled 
enough, bullied enough, damaged enough, and now are taxed enough, 
to pay for their malicious devilment, not to submit to more in any 
form. The loyal voters will challenge, as a general thing, only such 
as the public good requires to be challenged ; and as fast as they 
come to deserve, they will be restored. This is exactly the course 
the Government is now pursuing with the rebels. It treats them as 



257 



conquered public enemies everywhere, without any other rights than 
were conceded in the terms of surrender — without citizenship, incapable 
of voting, or being elected to office, until the Government wills it. 
It was on this ground the Government set aside the recent election 
at Richmond. Now, these rebels have the same political status in 
whatever State they may reside ; only, President Johnson expressly 
excludes from the benefit of his proposed amnesty all that left our 
lines and went over and joined the rebels; and to this class belong 
most of the returned West Virginia rebels that Mr. Lamb and his like 
seem so desirous to have restored and try their hand at voting. 

But he says the law is unconstitutional, and seriously advises the 
Supervisors and Inspectors throughout the State — generally gen tie - 
tlemen not learned in the law — to disregard it, and thereby set them- 
selves above the Legislature, which is supposed to contain the best 
legal talent and wisdom of the State. Why, it is very seldom that a 
Circuit Judge will undertake to declare a law passed by the Legisla- 
ture Unconstitutional, but obeys and refers the question of its Con- 
stitutionality to the decision of the Court of Appeals. 

I deny thai this law is Unconstitutional. The Rebels whom it is 
designed to exclude from voting until they have repented, ceased to 
be citizens of this State and the United States, and forfeited all po- 
litical and civil rights when they joined the Rebellion, and have nev- 
er regained them as the present dealings of the Government with 
them everywhere fully demonstrate. On this principle of public 
law — that citizens when they turn traitors and public enemies forfeit 
citizenship and all civil and political rights — the Government oi Vir- 
ginia was re-organized, and upon that re organization the New State 
itself rests. And now these sympathizing lawyers, hoping doubtless 
to gain the Rebel votes, welcome all such as have survived the terri- 
ble struggle at arms back to the full enjoyment of their former rights, 
while their hands are still red with patriots' blood. The moral sense 
of the community will never submit to it. Sympathizing and inter- 
ested lawyers may spin their threads of sophistry, but an insulted, 
outraged and indignant people will never submit. And they would 
be unworthy of their State and her heroes, living and dead, if they 
should do it. '* The loyal voters should challenge every Rebel who 
they believe has not repented, and let all others vote. All loyal vot- 
ers will cheerfully submit to take the Oath, but skulking Copperheads 
and Rebel Sympathizers may have qualms of conscience. 

West Virginia rebels have committed triple treason — against the 
H2 



258 



United States — against the re-organized Government, and the Gov- 
ernment of West Virginia. Who has washed them of this triple- 
guilt ? The President can only remit for the United States. The 
State of West Virginia can only remit for the re-organized Govern- 
ment, and itself. Has either done it ? If so, when, how and where ? 
As they are not citizens of the United States, but conquered public 
enemies, they are not citizens of the State of West Virginia, and,, 
therefore, not voters. The Convention that re-organized the Gov- 
ernment in 1 86 1, by solemn ordinance declared all such as adhered 
to, and supported the Convention at Richmond or the so-called Con- 
federate States, or professed to owe allegiance or obedience to either, 
became thereby subjects or citizens of a foreign State or pewer 
at war with the United States, and authorized the Government tc* 
arrest and compel their* to depart from, the State ; and this was an, 
affirmation, of a law of Virginia as old as the State itself. And evert) 
if the President had the power, and had, since the war ended, made 
them citizens of the United States, still they would have to reside in 
this State a year thereafter, before they would be entitled to vote. 

Now it is made the express duty of the Supervisors and Inspectors 
to ascertain, and decide who are qualified voters, amd to determine 
the fact,. a$e authorized to examine the person offering to vote upon 
his oath in respect to his citizenship,, residence, age, and other facts 
connected with his qualification. See acts of the legislature 1863,. 
page 1 19,. chapter 100, sections 23-24. Nobody will doubt but this 
law is Constitutional. Nor would there be any donate* if the Legisla- 
ture had prescribed certain questions to be propounded and answer- 
ed, instead of leaving the framing of these questions to the Super- 
visors and Inspectors, Nor would there be any doubt if the Legisla- 
ture had prescribed the form of an oath to be taken before voting, 
which embraced the pre requisite facts of citizenship, residence, 
age, &c. 

Now the test oath which Mr.. Lamb says is Unconstitutional, and 
so palpably so as to justify Supervisors and Inspectors disregarding, 
it, notwithstanding their oaths to uphold the la t w r is such a form — 
only it is confined to the question of citizenship ; whether the person, 
has the requisite citizenship, or whether he has forfeited it by com- 
mitting well defined acts of treason against the United States, the 
re-organized Government or the State of West Virginia. See acts of 
the Legislature, 1865, page 47. Where then is the unconstitutionality? 



•259 



The moment a citizen committed one of the acts of treason he ceas- 
ed to be a citizen of the State of West Virginia, and of course a 
•voter. 

Article n, Section 6, of the Constitution of West Virginia, reads 
thus : "The citizens of the State are the citLaesns <rf the United 
^States, residing therein." 

Article 3, Section r, reads thus : "The white m&\e citizens of the. 
■State shall be entitled to vote at all elections held within the election 
■districts in which they respectively reside. But no person -who is a 
minor, or of unsound mind, or a pauper, or who is tinder 'conviction 
of treason, felony or bribery in any election, or who has not been a 
resident of the State for one year 5 or of the County in which he 
•offers to vote for thirty days next .preceding such offer, shall be per- 
mitted to vote while such disability continues." 

It will hardly be contended that the rebels wTao left their homes in 
West Virginia to participate in the rebellion, have continued their 
residence in this State? especially when the acts of our Legislature 
have uniformly recognized them as rwn residents^ and authorized legal 
proceedings against their property as being nan residents. How 
then can such be said to have been residents of this State for the 
year next preceding the. election J This also is a sufficient ground for 
excluding their votes at the coming election. 

-No one would be more gratified than myself if all the rebels were 
snow so purged of their venom as to be entitled to vote ; but it must 
take time to accomplish this desirable object ; and I believe all hon- 
est and sensible men, even including the rebels, will secretly, if not 
openly, acknowledge that the measures I have suggested are best 
adapted to work a speedy and thorough regeneration. 

G. PARKER, 

Wellsburg, September 13, 1865. 



At -the October .election, 1-865, t>he law in question was very gen- 
erally enforced throughout the State, by the firm hand of Governor 
•Boreman, and the conductors of the election. 

The "Conservative Party/' then headed by Colonel Benjamin H. 
Smith— -probably their ablest constitutional lawyer, and aspirant for 
-the gubernatorial 'chair at the first opportunity— saw the necessity 



2 GO 

that some Judge of competent power should declare the law Uncon- 
stitutional. Judge James Loomis, of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, at a 
session of his Court in Roane County, held soon after the election, 
so pronounced it in his instructions to the Grand Jury ; which their 
partisan press blazoned wide, denouncing Attorney General Hall for 
his official opinion asserting the Constitutionality of the law, with 
such others as had agreed with him. In reply to these I published 
the following letters in the Intelligencer : 



JUDGE LOOMIS' INSTRUCTIONS TO THE GRAND JURY 
OF ROANE COUNTY UPON THE TEST OATH LAW. 

I read in the Weekly Parkersburg Gazette, of the 30th ult., sent 
me by a friend, a communication headed "Judge Loomis and the 
Test Oath — Important Opinion," with some remarks reflecting dis- 
courteously, to say the least, upon Attorney General Hall, "et id 
omne genus ," using the author's language, which means all others of 
his description, or that agree with him. At the time of the combined 
copperhead attack upon this law prior to the election, though not a 
"partisan," nor seeking any office, but only a voter and one of the 
loyal people, to whom I had supposed the Government belonged — I 
ventured to express my views as fully as my time would then permit, 
which happened to agree with Mr. Hall's. I have since considered 
the subject and read most of the remarks of gentlemen for and 
against its Constitutionality, and my views are unchanged. The only 
doubt I entertained at the time was, whether any person who had 
ceased to be a citizen of the United States, and, as a consequence, of 
West Virginia, by committing overt acts of treason against the United 
States, had been restored to his former citizenship and had thereafter 
resided in the State one year next before the passage of the test oath law, 
the 2$th of February, 1865. That every citizen of the United States, 
who has during the recent civil war, committed overt acts of treason 
(and these enumerated in the test oath of which he is to purge him- 
self, are such) thereby forfeited his political, if not civil rights, under 
the Government, and consequently his citizenship of this State, if he 
were one before, mnst be clear to all legal as well as common sense 
minds ; and has been so settled by the concurrent opinions of the 
best writers on International law, and decision of the Supreme Court 



261 



of the United States in the case of Amy Warwick, decided in 1863, 
and reported in 2d Black's R., page 667. The moment they com-' 
mitted any of these acts they forfeited at least their political rights, 
and became "public enemies." 

"A civil war," says Vattel, "breaks the bands of society and 
Government ; produces in the nation two independent parties, who 
consider each other as enemies, and acknowledge no common judge." 
Burlamaqui says, "by a state of war that of society is abolished." 
B vxkershoeck and Wheaton take the same view; and Judge Greer 
in giving the opinion of the court in the case of Amy Warwick, thus 
lays down the law in the case of our recent civil war : "The law of 
nations is also called the law of nature ; it is founded on the common 
consent as well as the common sense of the world. It contains no 
such anomalous doctrine as that which this court is now, for the first 
time, desired to pronounce, to -wit : That insurgents who have risen 
in rebellion against their Sovereign, expelled her courts, established 
a Revolutionary Government, organized armies and commenced hos- 
tilities — are not enemies because they are traitors ; and a war levied 
on the Government by traitors, in order to dismember and destroy it 
is not a war because it is an insurrection. They have cast off their 
allegiance to their Government, and are none the less enemies because 
they are traitors" 

It was the moral sense of the copperhead advocates, then, that by 
their treason the rebels had lost no rights, and the same now ; but 
the Supreme Court thought otherwise. Then, as now, the copper- 
heads saw nothing improper in permitting a rebel to drive his dagger 
to the heart of the Government and loyal neighbors with one hand, 
and at the same time put his vote into the ballot box, and help to 
administer that Government, with the other ! 

I trust that no one will contend that W T est Virginia was bound to 
retain as her citizens, denuded rebels, after they had become so shorn 
of all political if not civil rights, by the United States, whose citizen- 
ship our Constitution has adopted and agreed to abide by ; but not 
to take traitors as denuded and stripped of all national rights, until 
that nation shall have reclothed them with full and complete citizen- 
ship . 

Webster, in his dictionary, defines "a citizen of the United States" 
thus : "A person, native or naturalized, who has the privilege of 
exercising the elective franchise or the qua I if cations which 01 able him 



262 

io vote for rulers, and to purchase and hold real estate." Does a 
denuded and stripped rebel fill this bill ? Nor does it make any differ- 
ence what part of the United States one happened to reside, when 
he commits the overt act of treason ; the effect is the same the mo- 
ment he becomes a ""public enemy," Chief Justice Marshall, in 
the trial of Burr, decided that after a civil war had been levied, all 
who adhered to the enemy, giving him aid and comfort, were equally 
guilty, wherever living in the country, or however remote from the 
scene of actual hostilities. 

The next question is, had any of the West Virginia rebels, thus 
denuded of their rights by treason, been restored and clothed anew 
with full citizenship, and had resided after being so restored in this 
State for a year next preceding the 25th of February, 1865, when the 
test oath was passed ? If there was none, then it is clear the test 
oath could exclude no one at the time it was passed from voting, who 
had the qualifications required by our State Constitution, and was 
therefore Constitutional. And if Constitutional when it passed, no 
subsequent events could render it unconstitutional, though they might 
furnish good ground for modifying the law by subsequent legislation. 

The first opportunity the Government gave these denuded rebels 
to return and reclothe themselves with former rights, was Mr. Lin- 
coln's first amnesty proclamation., issued the 8th December, 1863, 
which required them to take the oath therein prescribed, and faith- 
fully keep it thereafter, or they gained nothing. Now between that 
date and the 25th February, 1865, when the test oath was passed, was 
one year, two months and seventeen clays. Where is the denuded 
West Virginia rebel who took that oath during the -first two months 
and seventeen days after that proclamation was issued, and faithfully 
kept it afterwards ? I have yet to learn of one such. The Confed- 
erate stock stood high then ; those that came in and took the oath, if 
any, did so to spend the winter at home and steal their loyal neigh- 
bors' horses and rejoin the rebel army in the spring. I have been 
able to hear of none others* The non-combatant rebels at home 
who harbored and gave secret aid and comfort in a thousand ways 
and became thereby equally guilty, of course did. not avail themselves 
of the oath, as their plan and policy were all the while, to conceal their 
guilt. During these two months and seventeen days no Federal 
Court was in session in West Virginia wherein these oaths could have 
.been taken. The various oaths repeatedly taken and broken before 



263 



the military authorities, before the amnesty proclamation was issued, 
the 8th December, 1863, conferred upon the taker no political rights 
or citizenship, but only a right to be protected within our lines so 
long as they behaved themselves. If any denuded rebel took the 
amnesty oath and kept it after the two months and seventeen days, 
that is, after the 25th of February, 1864, he was not entitled to vote 
at the time the test oath was passed, the 25th of February, 1865, for 
he had not been a resident of the State within the meaning of our 
Constitution for a year after being so restored, Until they took the 
amnesty oath in. good faith and kept it, they were "public enemies," 
whom our Legislature expressly declared to be "non-residents, 7 ' and 
authorized their property to be proceeded against as such, and the 
lawyers who are now so confident their rights and residency have 
never ceased, or been interrupted, sued out processes upon their 
property upon this very ground, and our Judges, including Judge 
Loomis, sustained the proceedings. 

The next question is, does the test oath as called require any other 
or further qualification of the person offering to vote than our Con- 
stitution requires ? If it does, then I admit, it is to that extent un- 
constitutional. But if on the contrary, it is only a mode or means of 
enabling the Supervisors and Inspectors to ascertain whether the 
person, in case he shall be challenged, has the qualifications required 
by the. Constitution, then it is clearly within the discretion of the 
Legislature to prescribe, and therefore Constitutional. This is the 
language of the oath : 

"I, A. B., (name of affiant,) do solemnly swear that I have never 
voluntarily borne arras against the United States, the re-organized 
government of Virginia, or the State of West Virginia ;, that 1 have 
never voluntarily given aid, comfort or assistance to persons engaged 
in armed hostility against the United States,, the re-organized govern- 
ment of Virginia, or the State of West Virginia j that I have not at 
any time sought, accepted, exercised, or attempted to exercise any 
office or appointment whatever, under any authority or pretended au- 
thority hostile or inimical to the United States, the re organized gov- 
ernment of Virginia, or the State of West Virginia ; that 1 have not 
at any time yielded a voluntary support to any government, or pre- 
tended government, power or Constitution within the United States,, 
hostile or inimical thereto, or hostile or inimical to the re-organized 



264 



government of Virginia, or the State of West Virginia ; that T will 
support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution 
of the State of West Virginia ; and that I take this oath freely, with- 
out any mental reservation or purpose of evasion." 

Now, I submit that there was no person in West Virginia who had 
committed any of the acts enumerated in this oath (except taking of 
the oath of allegiance mentioned at the close) prior to February 26th, 
1865, that had at that date the qualifications to vote that were re- 
quired by our Constitution. Both the language and the spirit of the 
oath require that the disqualifying acts therein enumerated, should 
have been committed within the limits and when citizens of the 
United States. Each of the acts enumerated would be clearly ''overt 
acts" of treason against the United States, for if aimed at the re-or- 
ganized Government, or Government of West Virginia, the clear legal 
inference is, they were done in furtherance of the gigantic rebellion 
and conspiracy, which aimed at the overthrow of the United States 
Government. Every person therefore that had committed any of 
these acts, had thereby made himself a "public enemy," and as such, 
had forfeited at least his political rights under the United States, 
and so far lost or impaired his citizenship of the United States as to 
be unable to fill the call of our State Constitution, which is for a 
whole, perfect citizen of the United States, and not such a shorn and 
skeleton object as his treason shall have rendered him. 

Is there anything in the mode or form that can render this act un- 
constitutional ? There is always a strong legal presumption in favor 
of the constitutionality of a law, passed as it is, by the Legislature, and 
co-ordinate branch of the government, which is supposed to be com- 
posed of the best character and talent of the State, and under 
solemn oath to protect and support the Constitution, and not to 
attempt a violation of it by its legislation. At the commencement 
of the Government the first legal intellects doubted if it was com- 
petent for the Courts to declare a law unconstitutional which the 
legislative branch, upon their oaths, had pronounced to be constitu- 
tional, and deliberated if the question ought not to be submitted to 
the people who are the source of all power. But finally the Supreme 
Court of the United States with Chief Justice Marshall at the 
head, after considerable hesitancy, decided it would be competent in 
cases where the law was manifcMjj against the Constitution, but in 



no other cases. So great and grave a question was not then flippantly 
disposed of as by the copperhead or interested lawyers, and some 
judges of our inferior courts at the present day. 

The Constitution prescribes no particular mode in which the judges 
of elections shall ascertain the qualifications of persons offering to 
vote, but leaves this part wholly to the discretion of the Legislature, 
as the Constitution of the mother State has ever done. Our first 
Legislature in the act prescribing the mode of holding elections by 
the people, passed November 13th, 1863, section 24 of that act, pro- 
vides as follows : " The supervisor or either of the inspectors is here- 
by authorized to administer said oath," (that is the oath of allegiance) 
"and also to swear any person to answer questions respecting any 
right to vote which is claimed." As broad an authority has been ex- 
ercised by the superintendents of elections in the mother State since 
her foundation without any objections. Under these acts it has uni- 
formly been held competent for the superintending officers to swear 
any person offering to vote, whether challenged or not, and to inter- 
rogate him to any length deemed necessary, touching his qualifications 
"or any right to vote," as the language of the statute is, his citizen- 
ship, residence, age, Szc. Now suppose the Legislature had prescrib- 
ed a set of questions, pertinent to the various elements of qualifica- 
tion, which constitute his right to vote, or had prescribed the form of 
an affidavit which embraced all the pre-requisite qualifications, as 
citizenship, residence, age, &c, or any one of them, and required the 
person offering to vote, if challenged, to subscribe and make oath to 
the same, which could be filed away and preserved. Either of these 
modes of ascertaining would certainly be within the power of the 
Legislature to prescribe, and therefore Constitutional. Is what is 
termed the "test oath" any more than such an affidavit framed by the 
Legislature for the purpose of ascertaining the pre-requisite qualifi- 
cation of citizenship in a time of civil war, which her former citizens were 
daily forfeiting by committing acts of treason, and when oaths were 
broken as soon as taken — in a form to be filed and preserved as evi- 
dence against the person taking it ? 

These are the views I aimed to give in my former letter before the 
election, though I had not time then to fully elaborate and explain 
them. 

The article in the Gazette has served to revive the subject, and the 
Judge's instructions have shown a peculiar pliability, though a Union 
I2 



266 



man, no less than the impregnability of the law. I would simply inr- 
quire of the learned Judge whether an unrestricted exercise by the 
supervisors and inspectors of the right to examine on oath any and! 
every person offering to vote, whether challenged or not, in respect 
to each and all the pre-requisite qualifications of the right to vote r 
and not as he supposed, whether such person comes within the ex- 
ceptions, and is challenged — would not as much "tend to exclude any 
and all persons offering to vote" as it would to simply require them 
to sign and make oath to the form prescribed by the said act in case 
of challenge ? And if so, why the former mode which he says is not 
only the right, but the duty of supervisors and inspectors to exercise, 
is not as much a violation of the Constitution, as the latter ? 

The gratulatory effusion of his friends over this "quietus" of the 
Judge, as they style it, serves only to remind me of the couplet irv 
Hudibras, which describes so graphically a famous gun, that, 

"When discharged at duck or plover, 
Shoots wide, and Jsmocks the owner over."' 

G. PARKER. 

Wellsburg, December 8th, 1865. 



The Counties of Berkeley and Jefferson— their people not having; 
complied with the conditions prescribed in the Constitution and 
schedule, were not included in the Act of Congress 7 admitting the 
State of West Virginia. Their people, however r complied soon after- 
wards, and as they said, as soon as the riddance of the Rebel arms 
would allow ; and the Legislatures, of the Re-organized Government 
of Virginia,, and West Virginia, consented that they might become 
part of West Virginia; which thereupon, assumed and exercised juris- 
diction, to which the loyal portion submitted. Our authorities and 
officers, including members of Congress, regarded this as sufficient^ 
without further consent of Congress ; which consent could have been 
obtained at any time during the three years, on asking, as Mr. Dawes 
said in the course of the discussion that afterwards occurred; while no- 
one could doubt but that the Legislature of the Re-organized Gov- 
ernment of Virginia, then at Alexandria, would, as soon as the Rebel- 



267 



lion ceased,. repeal its former consent and retain these Counties, if 
possible. 

At a former session of Congress, the necessity for further consent 
by Congress arose before the Committee on Elections of the House, 
in the case of McKendsie vs. Ketchem, of which Committee Mr. 
Dawes, of Massachusetts, was Chairman, and made a unanimous re- 
port that the consent of Congress was necessary for the transfer of 
these Counties to West Virginia ; and suggested to our members the 
propriety oi obtaining it without delay. But our members, as well as 
State officers, continued to regard it unnecessary. And the late Mr. 
Van Winkle, one of our Senators in Congress at the time, who, as 
representative of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, also 
desired the transfer — undertook, through the press, to impugn the 
•decision of Mr. Dawes, his Committee, and the House. 

A pretty lengthy discussion followed — Mr. Dawes maintaining that 
the decision, of his Committee was correct, while Mr. Van Winkle 
and the late Hon. Benjamin Stanton, who had come -to his assist- 
ance, contended for the reverse — Mr. Van Winkle, because the 
negotiation by which they were acquired, was not such "agreement" 
or "compact" between States as required the consent of Congress; 
while Mr. Stanton contended that if it was such a "compact,'" the 
Constitution of West Virginia, which Congress had assented to, auth- 
orized the transfer.,; and second, that the conceded powers of adjoin- 
ing States to fix .and -re-mark divisional lines, authorized it without 
consent of Congress, 

Anxious to save the Counties to our State, I .ventured to publish 
the following letters: 



PRESENT "LEGAL STATUS OF BERKELEY AND JEFFER- 
SON COUNTIES. 

This is a subject in which our loyal people feel a deep interest, 
and hence have read with great care the recent correspondence in 
your columns between Mr. Dawes on the one side, and Messrs. 
Van Winkle, Stanton and others,, on the other. For my own part. 



2G8 

I can say I have never entertained a doubt on the subject, and, if I 
had, this correspondence would certainly have removed it. The 
loyal people thus far, by the aid of friends residing in other States, 
have been able to inaugurate, complete and sustain the new State, 
without, and often against, the efforts and machinations of preten- 
tious political leaders who have talked one way and worked the other — 
now feel constrained to make an effort to rescue the above Counties 
from the eminent peril they have been purposely or ignorantly, and 
certainly unnecessarily, gotten into — and secure them as legitimate 
parts of the new State. That they are not so now must be evident 
to all those who have read the correspondence. The two letters of 
Mr. Dawes, as well as his Report at the last session of Congress, as 
Chairman of the Committee on Election, in the case of McKendzie 
vs. Ketchem, where the point came directly in issue, and in which 
the Committee was unanimous, affords conclusive evidence, not only 
of what the law ought to be, but of what it has been settled to be 
by the Supreme Court of the United States, viz : That no compact 
or agreement between the two States which changes the boundary 
and jurisdiction between them, is valid unless consented to by Con- 
gress. The consent of the three powers must be had before the 
change is consummated. These consents, too, must concur or co-ex- 
ist at the sa?ne time. If the two States interested agree, and before 
Congress gives its consent, one of the two States revokes, as it may, 
the negotiation fails, and the consent of Congress afterward cannot 
save — for at no time does the consents of the three parties concur or 
co-exist. Nor, as a general rule, can the performance of any acts by 
either State in pursuance of such inchoate agreement estop the other 
from receding before Congress consents, or impose any especial obli- 
gation on Congress to assent. To admit a power in two States to 
impose such an obligation, would impose restrictions on the discretion 
of Congress not allowed by the Constitution. 

It is a well settled principle of law that owners of adjoining lands 
may ascertain, and re-establish a dividing line without exchanging any 
deeds, which are required to pass title ; and the reason is, there is no 
passing of title or changing of boundary, but only a finding, fixing 
and re-establishing the old boundary line. Of course States may do 
the same thing without the consent of Congress, as it does not change 
one title, the true limits of their respective territory or jurisdiction, or 
involve a compact or agreement of the political character contempla- 
ted by the Constitution. 



269 



But to infer from this that two States can agree to transfer from 
the territory and jurisdiction of one to that of the other, two old, 
well defined and regularly organized Counties like Berkeley and Jef- 
ferson, which, together, contain 410 square miles, and in i860, 27,128 
inhabitants, and change all their existing national relations as parts of 
the old State, as military, judicial, congressional and internal revenue 
districts, with the numerous post offices, &c, all fixed in the national 
organism as being parts of Virginia, and instead of straightening the 
line make it a complete zigzag — without the consent of Congress, is 
simply absurd. If two Counties can be so transferred, why not ten 
or twenty ; and if twenty, why not all the Counties of Virginia? and 
so the old State, one of the essential members of the national organi- 
zation, will become merged and disappear, together with its Senators 
and other Congressional representatives. Nor would the consolida- 
tion stop here ; others would follow and our present beautiful system 
become a consolidated Empire, worse by far than secession. This I 
submit is the legitimate consequence of the principle if established. 

The only known way of one State acquiring territory and jurisdic- 
tion from another is by purchase, which implies compact or agree- 
ment, or by conquest, which implies force. The gentlemen will not 
contend that they have acquired it by the latter, whatever may be 
their future intention. Of course it can only be done by compact or 
agreement between the States, contemplated by the Constitution as 
requiring the consent of Congress. 

The interest which it is essential for the nation to protect and 
guard, and so entitle it to a voice, cannot, I submit, be confined to 
land or territory as Mr. Stanton seems to suppose, but must extend 
to its right of eminent domain, and to the preservation of its political 
organization. 

It is submitted that the cases cited by both parties, establish this 
doctrine. The early cases of the Virginia legislation cited by Mr. 
Stanton, import on their face onlv to re-establish and re-affirm 
boundaries, which had been previously declared and assented to by- 
Congress — merely acceptances and affirmations of reports of sur- 
veyors or commissioners, who had been appointed to actually run and 
mark the lines called for in the previously existing compacts of ces- 
sion, to which Congress had assented. 

Jn the case of Green vs. Biddle, VIII Wheaton, page 1, express- 



270 



)y affirms the law to be as I have stated, and that "It was not neces- 
sary the compact should be in any particular form" The substance 
only was to be looked at. 

In the case of Poole et als vs. Freegen, et als f XI Peters, p. 185, which 
is directly in point, and the court say, in speaking of the right of States 
to fix or alter boundaries, that they have a right, "but that its exercise 
is guarded by a single limitation or restriction, which is the consent of 
Congress " In the last case the jurisdiction of the States of Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee were in question, and also titles to lands, but to 
no land in which the United States had any interest as owners. Its 
only interest was to preserve and protect its rights of eminent domain 
and its political organism. 

The second position taken by Mr. Stanton that Congress, by ad- 
mitting the State of West Virginia with a Constitution containing this 
clause, "additional territory may be admitted into and form part of 
this State with the consent of the Legislature," did give its consent. 
I remember distinctly the debate in the Convention that formed the 
Constitution for West Virginia, upon this clause, and what its intent, 
object and purpose were as contemplated by the Convention. The 
whole debate was whether the acquisition of new territory should be 
by the consent of the Legislature, or by direct vote of the people. 
The question was considerably discussed, and finally decided to be 
left to the Legislature. It was not contemplated by any member at 
the time, nor was it any part of its purpose, to get from the Congress 
that might admit the new State under the Constitution we were form- 
ing, a (arte blanche for all future time, to swallow up adjoining States, 
or parts thereof, without further consent of Congress, whether done 
under pretense of straightening lines or others equally absurd. Its 
object was confined to internal State policy only. 

But if the Convention had contemplated the getting of such unpre- 
cedented authority by such disingenuous means, Congress was careful 
not to grant it. For by its act admitting the State, it expressly nega- 
tives any such intent or inference by enumerating each of the forty- 
eight Counties it consented to have form the new State, and thereby 
fixed and established conclusively the boundaries. There is not a 
word in this act to authorize the inference Mr. Stanton attempts to 
draw, but its whole letter and spirit is a complete negative of any 
such intent on the part of Congress. 

The vital question now is, can the Counties yet be saved ? and if 



271 



so,- how ? Can the required consent be- obtained before the Legisla- 
ture of the mother State shall repeal her acts consenting to the ces- 
sion passed the 31st January and 4th February, 1863. Both Con- 
gress and the Legislature of the mother State are to convene the first 
Monday of December next. 

G. PARKER. 

Wellsburg, September 13, 1865. 



THE LEGAL STATUS OF JEFFERSON AND BERKELEY 
COUNTIES, ONCE MORE. 
I perceive from your remarks in yesterday's paper, that the oppo- 
sition seem to avail themselves of some suggestions I made through 
your paper the 13th of October last, touching the present legal status 
of Berkeley and Jefferson Counties, from which some may infer it 
was these suggestions of mine, that first gave them the idea of re- 
pealing the acts of cession passed by the Legislature of the mother 
State, January and February, 1863, before Congress could have time 
to give its consent and consummate the transfer. I did not suppose 
there was any respectable lawyer in Old Virginia, who did not already 
see this obvious means they possess to attempt, at least, a rescue of 
these Counties as soon as their Legislature convened, and that they> 
were prepared to make the attempt as the first act done. If I had 
thought otherwise, I certainly should not have made the suggestions. 

My object in making the suggestions was to stop, if possible, what 
appeared to be a blind, dogged and damaging, with our friends, per- 
sistency by one of our public servants who had assumed the charge 
of this matter since he has been in Congress, and who had suffered 
two sessions to pass without making an attempt to procure what it 
seems, from Mr. Dawes' statement, Congress has always been ready 
to grant, and to awaken him to a sense of the danger there was of 
losing the Counties altogether, and that we should make, though late, 
a vigorous attempt to save them yet, by securing the consent of Con- 
gress before the mother State could repeal. This was my object ; 
but it would seem I "woke up the wrong passenger," for aught I can 
learn, our persistent Senator still persists, with his head against the 
post, while the opposition appear to be profiting by the suggestions. 



272 



The repeal by the mother State will now probably ta'ke^placc before 
Congress can give its consent. But still, Congress can give its con- 
sent and leave the Courts to decide whether the mother State lias, 
by her acquiescence in the exercise of jurisdiction by the new State 
over these Counties for near three years, estopped herself from with- 
drawing her consent at so late an hour. The Enquirer may as well 
hope for a retrocession of what formerly constituted the Northwestern 
Territory, with all the great States that have been erected thereon, 
as for the return of the people of West Virginia to so unfeeling and 
unnatural a mother. Respectfully, 

Wellsburg, Nov. 21, 1865. G. PARKER. 



On the assembling of the Legislature of the re-organized Govern- 
ment of the mother State, at Richmond, the first Monday of Novem- 
ber, 1865, its first act was to pass a law repealing the former Act, 
ceding these Counties to West Virginia. Our members, at, or about 
the same time, introduced a bill in Congress, asking for its consent, 
or conformance of the cession of these Counties to West Virginia. 
Congress passed an Act doing all then in its power to confirm the 
cession; but its passage was subsequent to the repealing Act of the 
mother State. 

The suit of Virginia against West Virginia, in the United States 
Supreme Court, to recover these Counties was. the consequence ; in 
which, as is known, we ultimately prevailed after large cost and ex- 
pense; but not on any of the grounds our officers, members or friends 
had relied on, and argued through the newspapers, but because the 
Court stood equally divided, with the affirmative resting on the 
plaintiff, or because her acts and acquiescence for so long a time had 
estopped her. I do not recollect on which of the two the Court 
finally disposed of the case in our favor. 



273 



After our Legislature had met, in 1866, I published the follow- 
ing, which speaks for itself: 

THE STATE'S INTEREST IN INTERNAL IMPROVE- 
MENTS—WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH IT? 

I perceive that during the first four days of its session, our Legis- 
lature was asked to appropiiite $298,000 to repair turnpikes and 
bridges, and to build new ones. This startling amount, at so early a 
stage, is asked by gentlemen from almost every part of the State, to 
be expended in their respective neighborhoods. However other 
things may have been depressed by the war, the system of "log roll- 
ing," so long the curse of the mother State, seems to have accumu- 
lated vigor and reappears in an enlarged form, as the demands so far 
greatly exceed those of i860 for similar purposes. It is undoubtedly 
true that the war has caused these improvements generally to be neg- 
lected and get out of repair, and in some instances the bridges de- 
stroyed. Yet the important question now is, it seems to me, what 
should be the future policy of the Legislature in relation to the State's 
interest in these works ? 

In order to show the utter hopelessness of the State ever realizing 
any pecuniary return for what has been already expended, or that 
may be hereafter expended, I will state some of the facts contained 
in a report to the Richmond Legislature in March, i860, of a special 
committee appointed to ascertain and report the condition of all 
works of internal improvement which the mother State was interested 
in. It appears from this report that the State's interest in canals and 
river navigations was $12,404,671 83, of which $199,500 had been 
expended within our State upon the Coal and Guyandotte rivers, be- 
sides that expended on this end of the James and Kanawha improve- 
ment. That of all these improvements throughout the State the 
Roanoke navigation, on which the State had expended £8o,ooo, was 
the only one that paid any revenue into the Treasury, and it paid ne- 
per cent. 

It also appears from the same report that the State had a 3 5 in- 
terest in 14 bridges, which in the aggregate amounted to 8136,034 66. 
That none of these bridges were paying any revenue into the Treas- 
ury except the Virginia ami Maryland Company, which paid in l86o 
K2 



• 



274 



S450, and the Elk River $210, equal to $660, as the interest on an or/f- 
lay oJ\ $136,034 66. 

There were 121 Turnpike Companies with roads extending 3,384 
miles, in which the State had a 3-5 interest which cost $2,305,177 o9 v 
only 11 of which extending in the aggregate 240J miles, and costing 
the State $131,053 50, had paid any dividends into the Treasury. 

There were also 25 roads constructed, solely by the State which 
cost $1,765,543 54 — none of which were paying any revenue into the 
Treasury. 

Also 10 Plank Roads in which the- State was interested to the' 
amount of $410,337 53 — none of which were paying an<y revenue. 

The report then proceeds to state as follows : k£ The whole interest 
of the State in minor improvements,, including Turnpikes, Plank, 
Roads and Bridges is $4,617,092 82, and the amount, productive is 
$140,133,50 — yielding in. ail an annual revenue of $3,09800, or 
7 -1000 of i per cent, on the 7uka-/e invasimeut im such works. Your com- 
mittee have reasons for believing, that in many of the small improve- 
ments conducted, on. what is called the two and three-fifths, principle 
there is no investment of private capital whatever. The contractors 
sometimes- subscribe the 2-5. The 31-5. are then drawn from- the State. 
The contractors secure the constructing of the improvement at such 
a figure, that the State's money is sufficient not only to pay for all the 
work done, but to pay a handsome profit to those who handle it/' and 
recommend the State to sell and get rid. of its entire interest,, refer- 
ring to the course that had been taken by other States to- their great- 
advantage. 

Now ; in view of these facts r the convention that framed and people 
that ratified our State Constitution, intended to put an end to this 
ruinous, policy 7 and forever divorce the State Government from all 
enterprises of this kind,, and confine its action, to its appropriate du- 
ties of making, and administering wholesome laws; and hence, by the. 
8th Article, prohibited the Legislature giving the credit of the State 
to, or assuming any existing liability of any County, city, town, or cor- 
poration, or subscribing, to the stock of any Internal Improvement 
Company, unless it shall pay its subscription in cash down, or provide 
for its payment the ensuing year. 

Now, our people are not willing to be taxed this year, nor next, to- 
raise money to be thrown away upon these works that have never 
paid the mother State a< cent, but bankrupted her,, as they will the 



275 



^icw State if she meddles with them for any other purpose but to sell 
and get rid ®f all, on some terms, as soon as possible. The 7th Sec- 
tion, 8tk Article, of the Constitution authorizes the Legislature to di- 
rect a sate, at any time, of its stocks. In most of the Turnpike Com- 
panies k is probable, as the report states, that tiie private stockhold- 
ers have paid nothing, and unless the State shall undertake to still 
•carry them along, the charters will become forfeited and the Counties 
-and towns will take and keep them in repair as free roads and at half 
the expense it costs the State. They have been built at State ex- 
pense, and done all they ever will in her hands, towards developing 
and settling the country. Local enterprise alone can make them fur- 
ther serviceable in this respect. The .great lines of travel are, or are 
to be, railroads, and mud turnpikes have become neighborhood con- 
veniences, and should be kept up and maintained by the local popu- 
lation, and this burden of maintaining roads should be general and 
not partial. And if any turnpike has not, by this time, induced set- 
tlers enough along its line to keep it in repair, it never will. There 
•may be some exceptional cases where the war destroyed necessary 
public .structures which the local population are unable to replace, or 
sections that have not received a fair share of public favor. If any 
such cases are clearly made out, let the State give.the special aid, and 
In the manner contemplated by the Constitution, and not revive an 
■effete system that had saddled the old State with a debt of $44,000,- 
000 in i860, and which every other State in the Union has long since 
discarded. 

G PARKER. 

Wjellsburg, January 22, 1866. 



•I thjnk the facts it contained had some influence with that and 
subsequent Legislatures, as no appropriations of consequence were, 
or have been made for such purposes, and the State, as a general 
thing, donated and surrendered her interest to the private Stock- 
holders, or the Counties, requiring them to keep roads, bridges, &c, 
in repair. This Legislature also, in order to protect her loyal people 
against the assaults and machinations of returned rebel politicians, 
and their stay-at-home co-adjutors, extended somewhat the test oath ; 
gave its consent to the Constitutional Amendment proposed by the 



276 



preceding Legislature as before stated, and made provision for sub- 
mitting the same to the legal voters for ratification or rejection, the 
4th Thursday in May then next. It also made provision for a regis- 
tration of voters as authorized by the 12th Section of the 3d Article 
of the Constitution, and preparatory to such election — allowing none 
to vote whose names were not registered, except persons absent 
in the United States or State service : and also provided that the 
Act of February 25, 1865 (voter's test oath) should continue in force 
until such registration should be completed, and govern the same; 
and when such registration was completed, which was to be done by 
May 10, 1866, the same was to stand repealed. 

The proposed Amendment to the State Constitution before stated 
having been ratified the 24th of May, 1866, by a large majority of 
the legal voters, the "Conservative Party," with Col. Benjamin H. 
Smith, as its standard bearer, and candidate for Governor, found, in 
order to secure any chance for success at the coming fall election, 
that not only the Test Oath law of February 25, 1865, but also the 
recently ratified Amendment to the Constitution had to be gotten 
rid of, so ex-rebels could vote. To accomplish this, the decision of 
some Court of competent jurisdiction seemed necessary; and the 
case of James D. Armstrong, a returned rebel of Hampshire 
County arose. He claimed the right to be registered and vote in 
that County, without taking the so-called "Test Oath." The Regis- 
trar refused to register, and on appeal to the Board of Registration 
of that County, it also refused. At the May term of the Circuit 
Court of Hampshire County, said Armstrong, who had been a 
practicing lawyer, applied to Judge Bunker, then the Judge of that 
Circuit, for a writ of mandamus, commanding said Board to register 
his name without his taking the Test Oath. Judge Bunker made an 
order, citing the members of the Registration Board to appear, and 
show cause, if they could, why Armstrong's name should not be 
registered as prayed for — but escaped the final hearing and decision, 
by exchanging with Thomas W. Harrison, then Judge of the Third 
Judicial Circuit, who, as was represented, had two brothers that had 
been in the Confederate Army — made the following decision at the 
September term of Hampshire Circuit Court, 1866 : 

"James D. Armstrong, Plaintiff, vs. the Board of Registration of 
the County of Hampshire, Defendants. 



277 



"On an application for a "mandamus," requiring the Board of Reg- 
istration of the County of Hampshire to register the applicant as a 
voter in the township of Romney, in said County. 

"The process issued in this cause, at the last term, having been duly 
served on the members of the said Board, and it appearing by the 
endorsement of the said Board on the application made to them, that 
they refused to register said applicant, unless he would take the oath 
specified in the third section of the registration act, passed the 23d 
day of February, 1866, and the court being of opinion, that so much 
of the registration act, as requires any registrar to administer the oath 
prescribed in the third section of said law, before registering such 
person, is uncofistitutional, null and void ; being also of the opinion 
that the adoption of the amendment to the Constitution on the 24th 
day of May, 1866, cannot give validity to said registration act, it hav- 
ing been passed before the adoption of said amendment: It is ordered 
That a peremptory writ of Mandamus be awarded, directed to the 
members of the Board of Registration of the County of Hampshire, 
commanding them to cause the said James D. Armstrong to be reg- 
istered as a voter in the township of Romney, in the said County, and 
it is further ordered, that the applicant recover against the defend- 
ants his costs by him herein expended. 

A copy — Teste, 

Chas. M. Taylor, C. C. C. H. C." 



Upon this decision I published the following remarks : 

JUDGE THOMAS W. HARRISON AND THE REGISTRA- 
TION LAW. 

Editors Intelligencer : 

I have read the decision of Judge Thomas W. Harrtson, in the 
Armstrong case, with Armstrong's and your remarks thereon. The 
decision is most extraordinary and justly alarming. It was apparent 
last fall and winter that our opponents would attempt to break down 
the test oath and others of its kind, by influencing the courts, if pos- 
sible, to declare them unconstitutional and void. Hence the extraor- 
dinary decision of Judge Loom is at the Roane court last fall, and 
hence, doubtless, the decision of Judge Harrison in the case above 
stated. 



278 



Let tis examine fox a moment the law and facts of this case. Arm- 
strong having been a soldier in the Confederate army, applied, pend- 
ing the first registration of voters last spring in the County of Hamp- 
shire, to have his name registered as a voter. The Registrar refused 
unless he would take the test oath passed the 25th day of February, 

1865, then in force, and which had been copied into the registration 
law. Armstrong refused t© take the oath, stating that he "could not 
and would not take that oath." He then applied to the Board of 
Registration for said county, which also refused to register for the same 
cause. Armstrong then applied to the Circuit Court of Hampshire 
County, Judge Bunker presiding, at the last May term for a writ of 
mandamus, as it is called, stating the foregoing facts and asking the 
Court to command the Board of Registration to register his name as 
a voter. The application was of course based upon the facts and 
law then existing, and the final decision must have referred and related 
back to that date, unless a change in the organic law — that is in the 
Constitution— had intercepted or arrested and rendered void the pro- 
ceedings. At the time of his application, and at the time the facts 
on which it was based occurred, the act of February 25th, 1S65, was 
in full force, as the first registration under the act of 26th February, 

1866, had not been completed, (See Section 2.0 of the Registration 
Act, which expressly provides that the act of the 25th February, 1865, 
known as the Test Oath Act, shall be in force until the first registra- 
tion under the Registration Act shall be completed.) It is clear then 
that the act of February 25th, 1865, called the Test Oath Act, was 
the only law then in force — the Act which had been so violently as- 
sailed by our opponents last year, so fully discussed in the Courts 
and before the people, through the press and upon the stump, and its 
validity triumphantly sustained everywhere. Does Judge Harrison 
mean to pronounce this act unconstitutional and void ? He certainly 
must so mean when he says, "so much of the Registration Act as 
requires any Registrar to administer the oath prescribed in the third 
section of said act" (which is in all things identical with the Test 
•Oath Act, passed February 25th, 1865, except it substitutes these re- 
strictive and mitigating words, 'since the first day of June, 1861, for 
never" — and thereby declaring* but not abrogating or repealing) "be- 
fore registering such person is unconstitutional, null and void." Does 
the Judge mean to say at this late day that a soldier of the Confed- 
erate army did not commit treason against the United States ? Does 
he mean to gainsay the unanimous opinion of the jurists of the world. 



279 



including the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, as 
well as President Johnson — ''that he who takes up arms against the 
United States becomes thereby a public enemy, and ceases to be a 
citizen of the United States, and consequently of this State ?" Or. 
that he who left loyal West Virginia, passed through our lines into 
Dixie and joined the Confederate, army,, was restored to full citizen- 
ship by the general terms of the President's Amnesty Proclamation, 
when it expressly excepts such persons from its operation. 

Or that the 8ih and 12th Sections of Article 3d of our Constitu- 
tion does not authorize our Legislature to pass the act as a mode or 
means for ascertaining the fact, whether the person offering to vote, 
or to have his name registered under the registrations act — is, or is 
not, a citizen of the State ? 

On the 24th of May last, the Amendment to our Constitution was 
ratified by the people, and become a part of the organic law of the 
State to which all existing laws and legal proceedings inconsistent, 
or in conflict therewith, had to give way. Does the Judge deny this 
proposition ? This Amendment declares that no person who has 
voluntarily participated in the rebellion since June 1, 1861, shall be. 
a citizen of the State, or entitled to vote. Armstrong admits that 
he voluntarily participated in the rebellion ; and still Judge Harri- 
son has peremptorily commanded the Board of Registration of 
Hampshire County, under the pain of fines and imprisonment, to 
put Armstrong's name upon the registry and let him vete,, and that 
the Board pay him his costs. And Armstrong at once publishes a 
Card, calling on the other ex-rebels in that Judicial Circuit to come 
forward and do likewise — offering to them his professional aid and 
service. Respectfully, 

G. PARKER. 



JUDGE THOMAS W. HARRISON AND THE REGISTRA- 
TION DAW. 

Editors Intelligencer : 

I perceive on re-perusing your remarks, since writing my first, which 
I wrote hastily, that Armstrong was a member of the Rebel State 
Senate at Richmond, instead of the rebel army, which places him 
altogether outside of the Amnesty Proclamation issued by President 



280 



Lincoln, the 8th of December, 1863, and also President Johnson's, 
issued May, 1865. A special pardon from Johnson is the only thing 
therefore that could in any degree change his status as a public 
enemy, and much less make him a qualified voter before or since the 
ratification of the Constitutional Amendment, on the 24th May last. 
Nor does it appear he produced any special pardon from Johnson. 
He stood there, upon the record, an unpardoned and unrepentant 
rebel of the deepest dye, as his position in the Richmond Senate 
must have been altogether voluntary and without the possibility of 
any of the coercion which often constrained the rebel soldier. 

Judge Harrison and his confederates (the case does not admit of 
a milder term) would seem to mean more than his language implies, 
viz : they do not mean to accept the Constitutional amendment rat- 
ified the 24th of May last as valid, but mean to maintain what Col. 
Smith and his co-workers are now proclaiming upon the stump — that 
it is invalid and of no force — because, as they say, its ratification was 
not submitted to the vote of all who were at the time legal voters. 
This is their ultimate purpose, and this decision of Judge Harrison 
is but the feeler, the skirmish line — the entering wedge. It being- 
impolitic, they think, during the present canvass, to reveal their 
whole plan, and hence, doubtless, the Judge uses language that may 
imply an acceptance of the validity of the amendment. Their real 
theory is this : First — That the act passed the 25th of February? 
1865, called the "Test Oath," was unconstitutional and void, as they 
argued last year. Second — But if that was valid when it passed, it 
was repealed by the registration act, which copied the 
"Test Oath," modifying it in one particular only to conform to the 
proposed amendment, viz : that the overt act of treason should have 
been committed since June 1, 1861. Third — That so much of the 
registration act as consisted of the repetition of the 'Test Oath" was 
"unconstitutional null and void," using the Judge's language, for the 
reason doubtless, though he did not give any, that it excluded rebels, 
who had been restored or rehabilitated in some form since the "Test 
Oath" was passed February 25, 1865. These propositions being 
established, they contend the amendment has never been constitu- 
tionally ratified, and so is of no force. 

Now, as I have before said, the "Test Oath" as a mode or means 
of ascciiaining citizenship, was clearly constitutional and valid, when 
it was passed February 25, 1865, as it excluded no one then entitled 



281 



to vote ; and that no subsequent restoration to citizenship of rebels 
could annul it. The Legislature alone could annul it. The Legis- 
lature did repeal it, but not until the first registration under the act 
passed February 26th, 1866, was completed, which was not until the 
10th day of May last, which fixed and determined constitutionally 
and legally who were the legally qualified voters in the State, entitled 
to vote on the ratification the 24th of the same May. See Section 
20th of^the Registration Law, Session Acts of 1866, page 78, and 
Section 1st of Supplemental Act, page 121 of the same. 

Assuming, then, the amendment to be valid, as it unquestionably 
is, and which the Judge had not the hardihood to deny, how does he 
stand ? When ratified by the people it became part and parcel of 
the Constitution, and at once annulled all laws and proceedings in- 
consistent with it, Armstrong's pending application for a writ of 
mandamus among the rest ; and such would have been the case if 
the application was well founded in the commencement, for the 
Judge, after the amendment took effect, had no more authority or 
right to command the Board of Registration to register Armstrong's 
name, than a Court of Admiralty would have to command the cap- 
tain of a merchant ship to run it against the rock of Gibraltar ; as 
the ship would be dashed to pieces in the contact, so were Arm- 
strong's application and Judge Harrison's manda?nus issued upon 
it, dashed to pieces when they came against the amendment. True, 
as the Judge says, the amendment, when ratified, might not have 
given validity to what was void before, though this would depend on 
circumstances ; but I am unable to see how that argument helps 
him. After the amendment was ratified no tribunal in the State had 
authority to register a person who had committed overt acts of trea- 
son since June 1st, 1861, and it is now and always has been the duty 
of the Registrar and Board of Registration to ascertain and determine 
this point, by examining orally the applicant on his oath, or requiring 
him to make ah affidavit, purging himself of disloyal acts, before 
placing his name on the Register. Did the Judge make, or suffer to 
be made, any such examination before issuing his mandate the pres- 
ent month ? It appears he did not. And in Armstrong's case it 
was unnecessary, for he confessed his guilt. In every aspect of the 
case, therefore, the Judge stands without a shadow of justification, it 
seems to me. The loyal people should meet and repel the first in- 
vasion of their constitutional rights with the resolution and energy 
they would the robber who had broken the door and was about cross* 
L2 



282 



ing the threshold of their castle; and while we are accustomed to 
regard as a detestable monster the man who stealthily introduces 
arsenic into the well from which ourselves, wives and children drink, 
how must we regard him who dares to corrupt the Judicial fount, 
which should not only be pure, but, like Cesar's wife,, "above sus- 
picion." 

Respectfully? 

G. P. 

P. S. — Since writing the foregoing I have read the remarks of 
your correspondents "L" and "Unus Vox." "Unus Vox" retracts,- and 
it seems to me wisely. "L" is doubtless the particular friend of 
Judge Harrison, and is anxious to relieve him from bis fearful pre- 
dicament. While I may respect his. motive, I cannot hope- for his 
success. The facts disclosed demonstrate such error, either of the 
heart or head, or both, of Judge Harrison, as in my judgment, 
renders it unsafe for the loyal people to trust him further. His real 
feelings in respect to the great issues during, the last five years have 
not been unknown, Like others of his kind in the State and- country, 
he seems, all at once to unmask. Thank heaven*, or its great antag- 
onist, for this. In view of established facts it will hardly be believed 
that Judge Harrison did not know all the facts of the case : that 
Armstrong had been a member of the rebel State Senate at Rich- 
mond. Nor will it be believed that the order of the Court, purport- 
ing to be signed by the Clerk is not correctly copied in your paper 
of the 2 1 st instant, nor that it is right or fair for the Judge or his 
friends, after securing to their party the advantage of his judicial 
opinion to sacrifice Armstrong as a scapegoat for the sake of 
shielding the Judge from the punishment such conduct merits. 



JUDGE THOMAS W. HARRISON AND THE REGISTRA- 
TION LAW. 

Editors Intelligencer : 

Since the amendment to the Constitution, and the laws our loyal 
people followed in making its ratification, the Test Oath and Regis- 
tration law are denounced by our opponents, including Judge Har- 
rison, as unconstitutional and void, it cannot be thought irrelevant 
at this time to examine these laws in other aspects than a mode or 



283 



means for ascertaining the required citizenship of persons offering to 
vote or register, in which respects they seem to have been also justi- 
fied by the Constitution and pertinent to the inquiry. Our oppon- 
ents read Section 6 of Article ist of the Constitution, viz : "the citi- 
zens of the State are the citizens of the United States residing there- 
in," and then they read Section ist of Article 3d, viz : "the white 
male citizens of the State shall be entitled to vote" &c, provided they 
shall have been residejtts of the State one year, and of the County 
thirty days next before offering to vote, with exception of certain per- 
sons not necessary to mention here. They then stop, and set to de- 
nouncing and cursing the Test Oath and Registration law as gross 
violations of these pa?ts of the Constitution, because they require, 
they say, something more than the Constitution itself requires to 
constitute a legal voter, viz : that they have not voluntarily partici- 
pated in the recent rebellion. Such of our present opponents as 
were members of the Convention that framed the Constitution, I 
have always been aware, intended to have it fixed so that their friends 
in the rebellion should, in case the rebellion proved unsuccessful, re- 
turn and resume at once the privilege of voting, and for securing 
them this privilege they expected their votes to elect themselves to 
office, and to the control and management of the government. Their 
disappointment in this particular, is the cause of the rage and des- 
peration they have since exhibited. They did not consider that a 
citizen of the United States, whether residing in our State, and 
thereby a citizen thereof, or elsewhere, the moment he committed an 
overt act of treason became thereby a "public enemy," and forfeited 
his citizenship of the United States, and, as a consequence, of our 
State. The legal effect of such overt acts upon their citizenship had 
not at that time been considered and defined, as was soon after done 
by the highest courts of the nation. The test oath passed by the 
Legislature, the 25th of February, 1865, was intended as a mode or 
means of finding out whether persons offering to vote had in fact 
committed any overt act of treason, and thereby lost their citizen- 
ship, and, as a consequence, their right of voting, by appealing direct- 
ly to their conscience in the form of an affidavit, signed and sworn to 
in a manner to be filed away and preserved for security in future. 
That was all. It neither added to, nor took from, the qualifications, 
the Constitution had prescribed, but was only a mode or means of 
determining an important prescribed qualification, viz, citizenship. 

This test oath was also material and proper in determining another 



284 



important prescribed qualification of a right to vote, viz : a year's 
residence in the State next before offering to vote. An act of the Legis- 
lature of the re-organized Government, passed February ioth, 1862, 
expressly declares that all persons in sympathy with the Rebellion 
who had or who should thereafter voluntarily leave their usual places 
of abode and go out of the reach of personal service, of civil process 
issuing from the Courts of the County in which they last resided and 
remaining ninety days, should be non-reside?its for all purposes. 
This act still remains m full force, as it has never been repealed and 
is not in conflict with any provisions of our Constitution. The Test 
Oath therefore, was also pertinent and proper, as a mode or means 
for ascertaining whether the person offering to vote had in fact 
another important qualification prescribed by the Constitution, viz : 
a year's residence in the State next before offering to vote. For if 
he had committed any act of disloyalty that brought him within the 
disqualifying provisions of this act, he became a non-resident of the 
State, and in contemplation of law remains a non-resident to this day, 
though he may now live or sojurn in it. 

This then was the constitutional foundation upon which the Test 
Oath was enacted February 25, 1865, and on which it stood unshaken 
until repealed May ioth, 1866, by the 20th Section of the reg- 
istration law, and supplementary act thereto, and after the first 
registration of voters under said act was completed. I trust no one 
will be fool-hardy enough to contend that "the war," "the insurrec- 
tion," "the public danger," had so far ceased as to make unnecessary 
or unlawful the ordinary oath of allegiance at the close of the Test 
Oath. A mere renouncement, without committing overt acts of trea- 
son, would require a renewal of this oath before exercising political 
rights again. 

The 2d Section of the 13th Article of the Constitution, provides 
that amendments to that instrument may be proposed at any time by 
the Legislature, and when published in the manner prescribed, and 
"agreed to," by the succeeding Legislature, this Legislature shall 
"provide by law" for "submitting the same to the voters of the State 
for ratification or rejection." Our last Legislature agreed to the 
amendment, the 13th of last February, and on the 28th of the same 
month, and day before it adjourned, it provided by law, in obedience 
to the express command of the Constitution, for submitting it to "the 
voters of the State for ratification or rejection." February 26th, two 
days previous to this act of submission, it passed the Registration 



2*5 

Act in pursuance of the 12th Section, 3d Article, of the Constitu- 
tion, viz : "The Legislature may provide for a registry of voters. 
They shall prescribe the manner of making and conducting returns 
of elections and of determining contested elections ; and shall pass 
such laws as may be necessary and proper to prevent intimidation, 
disorder or violence at the polls and corruption or fraud in voting." 
Section 8th of the same Article reads thus : "The Legislature, in 
cases not provided for in this Constitution, shall prescribe by general 
laws the terms of office, powers, duties, and compensation of all 
public officers and agents, and the manner in which they shall be 
elected, appointed and removed." It was in pursuance of these con- 
stitutional provisions, the Legislature passed the Test Oath law T , the 
registration and other laws then in force regulating elections. The 
registration law especially declared that the Test Oath passed 25th 
of February, 1865, should remain in force until the first registration 
was completed (to-wit ; the 10th of May last) when it should stand 
repealed; and the 3d Section provides as follows : "Before the reg- 
istrar shall register the name of any person as a qualified voter, he 
shall be satisfied of his qualifications as provided by law, and if he 
has any doubt of his loyalty," (that is whether he has committed any 
overt act of treason which would destroy his citizenship and probably 
his required residence also) "he shall administer to him the Test 
Oath, mitigated by limiting the time to since June 1st, 1861." Thus 
the law T stood March 1st, 1866, when the Legislature adjourned. The 
Constitution made it the express duty of this Legislature to provide 
by law for submitting the amendment to the voters of the State for 
ratification or rejection. 

Who were these voters ? Were they the persons who had forfeited 
by their treason one or more of the essential qualifications the Con- 
stitution in express terms required, i. e. citizenship and a year's legal 
residence ? Every sane man must answer, no. Would not that Leg- 
islature have shirked an express constitutional duty and violated their 
oath of office if they had failed to have provided the very means 
they did to ferret out and exclude these self-disfranchised persons ? 
Suppose they had provided no means to ferret them out and exclude 
them, would the submission for ratification have been to the qualified 
voters of the State, as the Constitution expressly directs it shall be? 
Where then is the unconstitutionality, that Judge Harrison has sent 
forth from the Bench with the sanction of Judicial authority, to be 
caught up by Armstrong and made a rallying cry for the self-dis- 



286 



franchisee! throughout the State, to come forth and vote in utter de- 
fiance of our Constitution and our laws ? Where the unconstitution- 
ality the Copperhead leaders, lashed into fury by their disappoint- 
ment and defeat, are thundering from every stump, grog shop and 
cross road, to be echoed and re-echoed by the reconstructed rebels 
who manage their Press ? The Legislature and Executive, backed 
by the loyal people, have achieved a work which will be approved by 
the just, the good, and the wise everywhere, and reflect lasting honor 
on its honest and brave achievers, when the names of their traducers 
will have been forgotten, or remembered only with shame. Let us 
then stand united and firm, and do what is right, "as God gives us to 
see the right," and all will be well. 

Respectfully, 

G. P. 



THE EX POST FACTO QUESTION OF SENATOR VAN 
WINKLE'S "MANIFEST ABSURDITIES" DISPOSED OF BY 
A RECENT DECISION BY THE SUPREME COURT OF 
MARYLAND. 
Editors Intelligencer : 

We would thank you to publish the following recent opinion of the 
Supreme Court of Maryland, which settles that an amendment by a 
State of its Constitution so as to exclude returned rebels from voting 
or holding office, is not a violation of the loth Section, Article i, of 
tke United States Constitution, which prohibits the States passing Ex 
post facto laws. You will observe the question was whether the clause 
in the recent amended Constitution of that State, which excludes all 
that have taken part in the rebellion from voting and holding office, 
was an Ex post facto law within the meaning of that Section of the 
Federal Constitution. Mr. Van Winkle says in his letter to the 
Wood County Convention thus : ''The amendment of the State 
Constitution proposed by the last Legislature is also liable to objec- 
tions" and after stating the object of his "padlock" clause at the 
end of the ist Section, Article 12, he proceeds to state his second 
objection, thus : "Again, the National Constitution forbids the pass- 
age by any State of an Ex post facto law, which briefly means a law 
denouncing a punishment for an act which was not legally an offense 



287 



at the time it was committed. It matters not that the punishment is 
denounced by a Constitutional provision instead of a Legislative Act, 
as the former, just as much as the latter, is the law of the land. Had 
the amendment simply provided that those who subsequently to its 
adoption did so and so, should forfeit the right to vote and hold 
office, the only question would have been about its expediency ; but 
as it also goes back to June, 1861, it is contrary to the Constitution of 
the State as 'retrospective] and to that of the United States as 
Ex post facto." 

Other decisions will probably be made soon by even higher 
authority, that will, we predict, as effectually dispose of the balance 
of his "manifest absurdities," and perhaps deny that the President's- 
pardon restores a full and complete United States citizenship. 

The following decision also affirms a right in a Legislature to pre- 
scribe a mode or means for ascertaining whether a person offering to 
vote has the required qualifications or not. 

The Loyal People of West Virginia. 



THE REGISTRY LAW DECLARED CONSTITUTIONAL BY 
CHIEF JUSTICE BOWIE. 

Chief Justice Bowie in sustaining the constitutionality of the reg- 
istration law, which excludes from voting those who cannot take the 
Test Oath prescribed in their new Constitution, says : 

"This Constitution must be recognized as the organic law of the 
State. Its chief characteristics in contradistinction to the prior arti- 
cles of the kind are, a declaration of the fundamental principle that 
every citizen of the State owes paramount allegiance to the Consti- 
tution and'Government of the United States, and is not bound by 
any law or ordinance of the State in contravention or subversion 
thereof; its incorporation with the right of suffrage, and the aboli- 
tion of involuntary servitude, except for crime. It was designed to 
render the Union indissoluble by excluding from the polls and offices 
of the State all who actively engaged in the rebellion or gave it aid 
and comfort. If the prevalence of the doctrine of secession is to 
be accepted in extenuation of those thus engaged in the rebellion, 
the soldiers of Stuart and Early, if the war had continued, might 



288 



have claimed the right of suffrage unchallenged. The tenth Section 
of Article first of the Federal Constitution does not limit the power 
of a State to fix, change or modify the qualifications of voters. The 
right of a State to regulate the elective franchise is absolute and un- 
qualified, under the foundation of State authority. To this power 
the right of a people to participate in the Legislature is subordinate. 
Citizenship and suffrage are not inseparable, the latter not being a 
universal, inalienable right, with which men are endowed by their 
Creator, but is altogether conventional. It is a question of mere 
civil polity, to be arranged on such a basis as the majority may deem 
expedient with reference to the moral, physical and intellectual condi- 
tion of the particular State. A legal voter is certainly he who has 
the right to vote, but the law appoints a mea?ts whereby to decide such 
right. Limitations of this character are in operation in other States. 
The jealousy of federal influence excluded those in actual service 
from participating in elections. It would be an anomaly if the sworn 
enemies of the government should be preferred to its friends in- this 
State. The same power which disqualified free colored men in 1801, 
who prior to that year were entitled to vote, enabled the Convention 
of 1864 to disqualify all who had been in armed hostility to the 
United States. Every government should contain in itself the means 
of its own preservation, and for that reason the regulation of the 
right of suffrage was reserved by the States. 
Baltimore, December 15, 1865." 

The "Conservative Party" was again overwhelmingly defeated at 
the October election, 1866. 

If I recollect aright Judge Bunker, while holding Court in Judge 
Harrison's Circuit, the same Fall, decided substantially the reverse 
of Judge Harrison, in the case of Fletcher, vs. Board of 
Registration. 



289 



THE DEBT OF VIRGINIA— WHO SHOULD PAY IT? 
.Editors Intelligencer i 

I read your able and just remarks in Monday's paper upon the 
above subject. I agree with you that the only open questions to be 
settled, are: First, what portion of the money derived from this 
debt as it existed Jan. i, 1861, had been expended upon the territory 
now comprising the New State, or otherwise came to her use ? Sec- 
vnd, what would be the just proportion for the Counties comprising 
the New State to pay, of the ordinary expenses of the Government 
while this debt was accumulating — -to be determined by the relative 
valuation, or population of these Counties- And, Third, the total 
amount of taxes these Counties paid into the State Treasury during 
the same period— the New State to be credited with the last, and 
debited with the two former. 

If the whole subject were open and submitted to a Court of Equity, 
it seems to me it could adopt no other principle of settlement, as be- 
tween the parties at least, than the one laid down by the ordinance 

-passed by the Wheeling Convention in 186 r, as and for one of the 

, fundamental conditions of separation : which must be regarded as the 
true interpreter of the meaning of 'equitable proportion of the debt 
of Virginia" as used in our Constitution. On what principle of jjus- 

.tice and equity can the Old State claim more? Besides, there is this 
further important equitable consideration in favor of the New State : 

.she has no Public Buildings or Institutions, and has these all to build 
for herself; notwithstanding she contributed for years before the State 
debt began to accumulate, towards erecting the spacious and commo- 
dious State Buildings, Public Institutions and endowing them^-now 
all left in the Old State, to be exclusively owned and enjoyed by her 

. people. 

And what relation tlo the two States sustain to the creditors or 
bondholders ? True, they may say, they parted with their money and 
.took the security, relying upon the whole State, as it then existed, for 
payment; yet they must be presumed to have done so with a full 
knowledge of those Constitutional provisions which authorize new 
States to be erected out of the territories of old ones, and their do- 
mains to become therebv abridged. In the present case Less than 
1M2 ' 



290 



one and a half of the forty odd millions have been expended within 
our borders, while all the balance was expended — much of it with 
treasonable aims, as is now manifest — in improvements exclusively 
within the Old State, whose people have had the full benefit and are 
now the exclusive owners of, and are able to pay for. If the two 
States were subject to a Court of Equity, is there any doubt such 
Court would apportion the burden so as to do Equity between the 
States? There is none. If a co-partnership composed of two in- 
dividuals, one being a mere nominal partner, should give a note in? 
the firm's name for $1,000, and the nominal partner should appro- 
priate but twenty-five dollars of the sum so borrowed, to his use,, 
while the other should expend the remaining nine hundred and 
seventy-five, in improving and beautifying his mansion, though stand- 
ing in the firm's name, and afterwards by wicked and outrageous- 
conduct, should force the nominal partner to withdraw without being; 
paid for his labor, and the firm should afterwards, by lapse of time, 
or other cause, become discharged in law, though not in honor, from 
paying the note, could the holder ©f the note, with any show of 
conscience or equity y ask the expelled and abused nominal debtor to 
pay any part, until the mansion of the other — the actual product of 
the money loaned — with his other means,, had bee» appropriated? 
And if sooner asked, might not the former well say, "my former 
partner forcibly expelled me and appropriated all to himself, and is 
now owing me a balance for my labor, alter deducting the twenty- 
five dollars I received — pray collect the whole note, if possible, from 
him, as he is able and ought to pay/' Could be not honestly and 
honorably make this reply I It seems to me he could. 

Or, if two joint owners of a tract of wild land shoukt r upon their joint 
and several note, borrow five thousand dollars, and expend it in im- 
proving, building up and beautifying one part of the tract, and after- 
wards the stronger should, by unjust and treasonable conduct force 
the other to withdraw to the uncleared portion of the tuact,. without 
any compensation, and set to building for himself and family a new 
home in the wilderness ; and the obligation to repay the five thous- 
and dollars had became, as in the former case, a debt of honor 
merely — and bis title in the portion so first improved and embellish- 
ed, had become extinguished without compensation — would not the 
course to be pursued by the expelled and injured co-tenant, as well 
as their just and conscientious creditor, be equally plain ? 

I submit, the equities of West Virginia, in the present case, are 



201 



not unlike the co-partner and co-tenant above supposed. Nor do I 
believe there is a bondholder anywhere, whose conscience will allow 
him to ask anything of West Virginia, until he shall have appropriat- 
ed all that remains of the depreciated products of the money loaned 
to the Old State, with her other property. Does the Wheeling Regis- 
ter, with its "happy family," that have made so much ado about high 
taxes, ignore the principle here laid down ? Or do they accept the 
figures as made by Auditor Taylor, of Richmond. 

Respectfully, 

G. P. 

p. S.— I have read in your paper to-day, an article from the Rich- 
mond Dispatch, headed "The State Debt and West Virginia," to 
which, with your permission, I will reply in another number. 

December 24, 1866. 



THE DEBT OF VIRGINIA— WHO SHOULD PAY IT ? 
Editors Intelligencer : 

I have just read in your paper of yesterday an article from the 
Richmond Dispatch, headed "The State Debt — West Virginia." It 
cannot be without its use to notice at this time some important facts 
the editor discloses in his labored effort to fix a third or more of this 
•debt upon "West Virginia, He recounts, in the tone of injured inno- 
cence, the losses sustained to the old State by the "secession" and 
"outrageous dismemberment," as he chooses to term it, of West Vir- 
ginia. Which party is responsible for what has been done ? Old 
Virginia "seceded" and left West Virginia exactly where Washing- 
ton and his associates placed her in 1789, where she has remained — 
having done no more than the conduct of the old State compelled 
her to do in self-preservation ; while the old State has revelled in car- 
nivals of treason and blood of her own getting up, until reduced to 
the deplorable condition represented ; yet makes the present strik- 
ing difference in the healthiness and resources of the two States, one 
of the main reasons why we ought to pay one-third of her debt. She 
made cruel war upon us because we refused to go with her. She 
went despite our earnest entreaties to stay, and now wants us to pay 
for the damage she has sustained ! He concedes but fifty Counties 



292 



to our State, and insists we have nearly half ©f the territory, one-'" 
third of the people and was paying, in i860, one-fourth of the taxes. 
If this were so, we would ask why all the money the debt produced, 
amounting to $43,000,000, except about $1,500,000, was expended on' 
their half? Fie makes our territory to have contained in i860, 18,- 
381 slaves, valued by him at $9,180,500, which is $500 a head ; while 
the old State had 472,647 slaves, valued by him at $236,323,500, 
which is $500 a head; which latter, he says, yielded and paid in 
i860 a tax of $270,000; while the real estate, comprising the new 
State, the editor says, was valued in i860 at only $83,803,641 61, and 
paid into the State treasury in i860, at 40 cents on the hundred dol- 
lars, a tax amounting to $335,214 56 — which, with the tax paid 
on personal property in these Counties for the same year, amount- 
ed to rising of $600,000; and it was about the same amount for many 
years previous. 

Now our people wish to know of the editor why the $236,323,500 
worth of slave property owned in old Virginia in i860, paid into 
the' State treasury only $270,000 tax, when the real estate of West 
Virginia valued at only $83,803,641 61 paid into the treasury the 
same year $335,214 56 ? 

There was then in i860 in the old State, one hundred and fifty-two 
millions, five hundred and twenty thousand, three hundred and fifty- 
nine dollars and thirty-nine cents' worth of slave property, an amount 
equaling .the whole amount of taxable property in the Counties in 
i860 which now comprise West Virginia — taken at the editor's valua- 
tion — that paid no tax at all ; and at the same time it was a kind of 
property that commanded cash sooner than any other, and which re- 
quired a large share of the legislation and large expenditure from the 
treasury to regulate, govern and protect. Nor was this monstrous 
iniquity and injustice confined to the year i860; but had certainly 
existed during the ten years previous, and probably during the whole 
period the State debt was accruing. 

Different facts from these must be shown before honor, justice or 
equity will adjudge the payment of any part of the debt by West 
Virginia. He shows we were as much defrauded in the levying of 
annual taxes which went to pay the interest on the accumulating debt, 
and "ordinary" expenses of the Government, as we were in the appli- 
cation of the money which the debt produced. Nor need the Old 
State expect to justify nor even palliate this unparalleled injustice, by 
showing that the Counties now composing the New State — whose 



293 



people were all the while in a powerless and hopeless minority, and 
represented generally by men who were either dominated over, cajol- 
ed, or bought up by the Richmond dynasty — enjoyed a like fraudu- 
lent exemption on the comparatively small pittance of $9,180,500 
worth of slave property, then owned within the borders of the 
New State, by their tools and allies mostly; or that the Representa- 
tives that this class used to send to Richmond, co?icurred with them in 
the nefarious measures; or by pleading a subsequent annihilation of 
this species of property, which their causeless and voluntary treason 
produced. 

The editor shows but little just discrimination when he likens the 
New State to "an individual retiring from an embarrassed co-partner- 
ship, and refusing to pay his share of its liabilities." The firm was 
sound and prosperous in the winter of 1860-61, when the people of 
the Old State seized all the assets, including the Literary fund, which 
the Old Mother had been accumulating for nearly a century, for the 
purpose of educating her children — and plunged into rebellion, leav- 
ing the people of the New State no alternative but to follow, or re 
main where they were, and commence business anew for themselves — 
though stripped of everything as they were. They chose the latter, 
and, as events have proved — wisely. 

Until the editor and his friends can satisfactorily explain these 
things to the people of West Virginia, and the Bondholders, I should 
advise they should make other provisions than the one proposed, for 
the payment of the debt ; especially that part allotted by them for 
West Virginia to pay. 

Respectfully, 

G. P. 

December 26, 1866. 



[No. 1.] 

WEST VIRGINIA LAND TIT L E S — ' THEIR CONFUSION AND 
UNCERTAINTY IN MANY SECTIONS— THE DEPRESS- 
ING EFFECT — A REMEDY PROPOSED. 

Editors Intelligencer : 

Impressed, as you appear to be from your bold and appropriate 

leader in to-day's paper, against our usury laws — of the present un- 

progressive conditioa of our State— -having written the following, think- 



294 



ing to lay it before the Legislature in the form of a memorial — 
the timely and fit introduction you have made of the subject, has de- 
termined me to ask for its publication as a continuation. 

Though the evil, mentioned in the caption, has long existed this 
side the Alleghany Mountains, it has recently been greatly increased. 
When the war closed, West Virginia with her excellent Constitution, 
free institutions and large natural resources, including petroleum oil, 
then fast enlightening the world and inflaming all speculative minds, 
and her central position, attracted more attention from capitalists and 
immigrants than any other section of the country. Her lands were 
sought by persons from every quarter, and often at exaggerated 
prices. It was supposed that Virginia, like the other States and the 
General Government, had never granted but one patent for the same 
piece of land, and had granted as the latter grants, only after a general 
survey and accurate location had been made. And hence it was 
thought by people abroad that whoever held a patent from the State 
of Virginia, with her seal and one of her former Governors' names 
attached, or could, by proper deeds, deduce title through such a pat- 
ent — must have a perfect right. The numerous squatters holding or 
deriving mere color of title through junior patents, took advantage of 
this excitement and delusion, sold large amounts of land to which 
they had no title, at prices often above their value with a good title, 
to persons from all parts of the loyal States. The numerous pur- 
chasers at length finding out the gross frauds practiced, have impress- 
ed the whole country with the idea that it is impossible to get a clear 
title to lands in West Virginia ; and so strong is this conviction in the 
great monetary centers of the country, as New York, Philadelphia 
and Boston — that their real estate brokers refuse to undertake the 
sale of West Virginia lands, but dismiss with the assertion, "there are 
no valid titles in that State." For the truth of these facts I think I 
may appeal to every person who has lately had anything to do in an 
attempt to sell our lands, in those cities. 

Assuming the facts to be so, every one must see how vital it is to 
the prosperity and advancement of our young State to have this evil 
removed in the speediest manner possible, consistently with our organ- 
ic law. For we must introduce capital and labor from abroad in order 
to attain what the State is capable of becoming. It is neither blatant 
politicians, nor demagogues, nor professional men, nor country mer- 
chants, that have ever built up a State. Capital, combined with free 
intelligent labor, both wisely directed to the development of its natural 



295 



resources, and manufacture of its raw material — valueless in their 
natural condition, as our coal, iron, salt, oil, lumber, &c, while under- 
lying or covering our mountains and valleys — so as to fit them to the 
wants of others, who will purchase and pay us the cash. This pro- 
cess, with the various agricultural products our lands are capable of 
yielding, when cleared, including fruit, stock and wool growing, alone 
can ever build up our State. Capital and labor must be had to do it 
with. Neither of these are coming if they have to buy a lawsuit, 
and be dragged into the courts to commence with. They will go 
where these banes and annoyances to honest industry can be avoided. 
The wants a?id necessities of West Virginia have changed altogether. 
The great purpose and business of the people of many of our 
Counties, while parts of the old State, seemed to have been, to attend 
and run the Courts, at which all were either parties, jurors or wit- 
nesses, attend the hustings, support a large corps of lawyers and pol- 
iticians, take out and trade in junior patents, which the old State was 
always anxious to grant at two cents per acre, whether covering a 
graveyard or a hill, sold a half dozen times before, but sure to tax 
and collect of each the full value of the land, and leave it to a few 
negroes to do the work. 

This state of things in Western Virginia suited East Virginia when,, 
in late years, slavery was She controlling power to which all other 
things had to yield. She used it for the purpose of locating junior 
patents upon, and deriving quadruple revenue from, settling any sur- 
plus of what she called her "poor white trash" upon, after fitting 
them out with pockets full of junior patents, and quartering decrepifi 
political servants, and rearing and educating young ones, fully school- 
ed in "State rights," the resolutions of '98-9, and the divine origin of 
the slave institution. 

Between the close of the revolutionary war in 1783 and the year 
1800, all the lands between the Alleghanies and the Ohio river had 
been granted once, and many, twice and thrice, to soldiers and 
patriots who had participated in that war, or the French and Indian 
war preceding, and among them was General Washington, who 
took up much of the best agricultural lands. These lands, with the 
unappropriated portions of what was afterward organized into the 
North Western Territory, belonged before our independence to the 
crown of England. Upon the establishment of our independence, 
they became technically vested in Virginia., which in [783, in consul- 



296 



- eration that the United colonies had helped to wrench these from 
England, ceded the Northwestern Territory to the United States. 
Prior to that date for a like consideration probably, she put her 
"waste and unappropriated" lands, including what afterward became 
the State of Kentucky, into the market at two cents per acre — the 

• locator paying the expense of surveying, patent, &c. This price for 
her "waste and unappropriated" lands remained unchanged until 
the time of our separation in 1863. At the early period spoken of, 

. the hill lands, now comprising portions of West Virginia sold for 50 
cents to $1 per acre, But when the General Government had driven 
off the Indians from the rich lands of Ohio, and put these lands in 
the market, and the State of Ohio was formed as a free State, capital 
and emigration turned its course there and beyond, as they have ever 
since, leaving the less fertile lands of West Virginia, cursed with the 

. institution of slavery, with all its blighting influences and deleterious 
accompaniments. These hill lands became comparatively valueless, 
and the owners, many of whom were residents of other States and 
foreign countries, neglected to pay the taxes. And here commenced 
a series of legislation on the part of Virginia for the purpose of col- 
lecting the taxes, the most multiform and complicated on record — so 
much so that very few Virginia lawyers at the present day pretend 
to understand them. This legislation was continued with occasional 
lulls until 1852. While the men of the revolution lived and directed 
the affairs of the State, she practiced a leniency and forbearance 
toward the owners of delinquent lands which have no parallel. She 
occasionally offered them for sale but bid them in herself, or redeem- 
ed them for the owners if purchased by others, and continued the 
right of redemption, till the 1st of July, 1838, when they became 
irredeemable; and ordered all not then redeemed or disposed of, to 
be sold, and taxes, interest and costs to be paid from the proceeds, 
and the balance to the former owners, or their representatives, if 

: claimed within a specified time. These sales passed only the inter- 
est which the State then held. 

Until 1826 she recognized non-residence in the State among the 
disabilities against which her Statute of Limitation was not permitted 
to run. By an act passed in 1827 she recognized for the first time 
in her legislation, that she had been granting many patents for the 
same land, and taxing each of the patentees with the full value 
thereof, and provided by that, and subsequent acts, for giving 
the land forfeited, to the one holding the oldest patent among those 



297 



paying the taxes within the time prescribed ; that is, in case three 
held patents of different dates upon the same piece of land, and 
each patentee had been taxed and was delinquent, and the land had 
been declared forfeited to the State, it was redeemable before a cer- 
tain day. If the one holding the oldest patent paid his taxes, inter- 
est and costs within the time prescribed, he took the land. But if he 
failed, and the one holding the next oldest patent paid within the 
time, she gave the land to him ; and in case neither of the former 
paid, and the holder of the youngest patent paid within the time, the 
State gave him the land, rather than sell it again the fourth time, 
after having received her just tax, interest and costs. None of the 
lands which were not redeemed prior to July ist, 1838, and had be- 
come absolute in the State, were subject to be lawfully patented 
again, until the Code of 1850. Such could only be sold by the Com- 
missioners appointed for the purpose. When the Code of 1850 made 
them lawfully patentable again, the air became filled with junior pat- 
ents, and everybody's land, no matter whose or where situated, was 
shingled over again with a coating many patents deep, overlapping 
and interlocking in all forms ; and these patents continued to issue 
until the war separated our people from old Virginia, and our 
Constitution in 1863 came in and cut the pernicious system up, root 
and branch, and provided that all lands then vested in the State for 
non-payment of taxes, &c, not released, exonerated or redeemed be- 
fore June 21st, 1868, should be sold, and the balance of the pro- 
ceeds, after paying the taxes, damage and cost, should be paid to 
the former owner, or his legal representatives, if clarified within two 
years thereafter. Such taxes and interest, when paid, to go to the 
School Fund. 

Respectfully, 

December 31, 1866. G. P. 



[No. 2.] 

WEST VIRGINIA LAND TITLES— THEIR CONFUSION AND 
UNCERTAINTY IN MANY SECTIONS— THE DEPRESS- 
ING EFFECT— A REMEDY PROPOSED. 

Editors Intelligencer ; 

Many of the early patentees, their descendants or assigns, have 

kept their taxes paid up, and still their lands have been shingled over 
N2 



298 



with junior patents, which the squatters have taken out m order to 
acquire thereby color of title, shield themselves fr om prosecutions for 
cutting and carrying away timber, and avail themselves of the statute 
of limitations. This peculiar situation which these squatter or junior 
patentees have held, has made them as a general thing — though there 
have been some noble exceptions — pliant tools in the hands of the- 
political demagogues, who cursed our section for mai>y years be- 
fore the war broke out, and carried most of the squatters with them 1 * 
into the rebellion in 1861, upon the solemn promise that tbey would! 
have all the lands of loyal men confiscated by the Southern Confed- 
eracy, and large farms allotted to each of the squatters. The trait- 
orous leaders and their duped tools are now all back again — looking: 
for a way to steal what they were unable to confiscate. This element 
for political demagoguism has been coeval with sqatterism in many 
©I the Counties, especially the back and southerly ones. When Vir- 
ginia lost her great men of the Revolution, an entirely different class- 
of public men succeeded. They were altogether inferior in natural 
endowments, with souls gangrened by slavery, and filled with inordi- 
nate pride and ambition, with hatred and contempt for all who are 
not "to the manor born." Tbey began as early as 1832 to legislate 
against non-residents and in favor of the squatters of Western Vir- 
ginia. By. an act passed thaft year,, all lands lying east of the Alle- 
ghany Mountains were released of all delinquent taxes and damages,, 
and at the same time, the Legislature released the taxes and damages 
on all tracts west of the Alleghany, where the tax did not exceed 
$10 00, and on all, where the taxes and damages added together, did 
not exceed $20 00. This exemption included nearly every squatter,, 
but reached but few non-residents. By an act passed the 27th of 
February, 1835, forfeiting lands w<es£ di the Alleghawies only, then off 
the commissioners books, if not entered and taxes paid by a certain 
day, a similar exemption was made in favor of the occupant. In 
March, 1837, an act was passed which applied only to lands west of 
the Alleghanies, making a possession, of seven years sufficient to g ; ve 
the squatter a right to the possession, while it required fifteen years 
east of the Alleghanies-. The code of 1850 made the statute of limi- 
tation uniform throughout the State,, making, it fifteen yeans.. By act 
of 1852, certain omitted lands west of the Alleghany mountains were 
declared forfeited unless the taxes in arrear were paid within a speci- 
fied time, and made the same subject to re-entry, &c, but no land's 
east of the Alleghany were affected. March the 12th, 1861, the Leg- 



299 

ishvture tfoat organized the Rebellion., reduced the statutes of limita- 
tion west of the Alleghany mountains from fifteen years as established 
fey the Code of 1850 to tm years, but left it unchanged east of these 
mountains, I well recollect how prominent this subject of reducing 
the statute of limitation was made by the incipient rebels in the lower 
part of the State, in their canvass for seats in that Legislature, and 
was informed that ii had been the only passport to the Legislature 
for many years previous. But the Legislature had repelled the ap- 
peal until she could conciliate and secure allies in treason. And still 
this anomaly in legislation, for I venture to say no other State in the 
Union has ever had two distinct statutes of limitation in force at the 
same time, in different parts of her domain, and during the last five 
and half years, with all the legislation that has been had by the reor- 
ganized and aaew State governments, no Legislature has had courage 
enough to wipe out this sop of treason. But it stands to-day with a 
statute of limitation of ten years on this side of the Alleghanies, and 
fifteen years in the few Counties lying east of those mountains, so 
that a Judge of the Eastern Circuit has to apply one rule in one 
County and another in a County adjoining, within his circuit. 

Thus it appears that for a period of upwards of thirty .years, this 
squatterism has furnished the material for demagogues to work upon 
in many of our Counties while parts of the old State ; and this ele- 
ment was occasionally rotted and stirred up by some descendant of 
an early patentee who had always paid his taxes, by bringing suit 
against them in the Federal Court, where he generally prevailed, 
though it was otherwise before the local tribunals, where the dema- 
gogue-squatter influence has generally prevailed. This is a brief 
sketch of the policy and legislation of the old State at different per- 
iods upon the subject 

What has the reorganized government and new State clone ? The 
Convention representing the loyal people of Virginia, when it assem- 
bled at Wheeling, the nth of June, 1861, felt vividly on whom they 
had got to rely for aid to successfully carry tliem through the perilous 
work they were about to undertake — not resident Virginians "to the 
manor born," for they had gone the other way and taken most of the 
squatters, or junior patentees with them, filled with the hope of 
sweeping confiscation and ample farms, but upon non-residents, the 
people of the loyal States. And hence, for the purpose of better se- 
curing that aid, they put in the ordinance authorizing the formation 
of a new State,, the following, as fundamental conditions on which it: 



300 



should be erected, viz : "All private rights and interests in lands 
within the proposed State, derived from the State of Virginia prior to 
such separation, shall remain valid and secure under the laws of the 
proposed State, and shall be determined by the laws now existing in 
the State of Virginia." 

"The lands, within the proposed State, of fion-resident proprietors 
shall not in a?iy case be taxed higher than the lands of residents 
therein" 

I need not mention how these and the other propositions put forth 
b\ that Conv ention have been responded to by "non resident pro- 
prietors'* of its lands, and the loyal people generally throughout the 

loyal States. 

How have the people of West Virginia kept this solemn and sacred 
pledge made in that solemn hour ? The Convention that framed the 
Constitution of the New State, complied with the condition so far as 
it related to taxing "non-resident proprietors," by section ist, of the 
8th article, viz : "Taxation shall be equal and unifoim throughout 
the State, and all property, both real and personal, shall be taxed in 
proportion to its value, to be ascertained as directed by law. No one 
species of property, from which a tax may be collected, shall be taxed 
higher than any other species of property of equal value ; but prop- 
erty used for educational, literary, scientific, religious or charitable 
purposes, and public property, may, by law, be exempted from taxa- 
tion." And the parts relating to "private rights and interests in 
lands," by Section ist, Article 9th, which adopts substantially the 
language of the ordinance before cited. 

Near the close of the work of the Convention, a Special Commit- 
tee, consisting of legal gentlemen, was appointed, composed of 
Thomas W. Harrison, (now Judge; as Chairman, Col. B. H. Smith, 
Mr. Van Winkle, and others, to consider and report on the subject 
of "forfeited, waste and unappropriated lands," which Committee re- 
ported substantially Article 9th of the Constitution. The 4th Section 
of the Article is a very singular one for a Committee to report, and a 
Convention to adopt, that were loyal, sincerely desirous of settling 
the land titles, or of imposing the burden of taxation equally and im- 
partially, as guaranteed by the ordinance of 1861 and section 1, arti- 
cle 8, of the Constitution before recited. It released all lands from 
taxes that had been returned delinquent since 1831, where the tract 
did not contain more than 1,000 acres, or the tax exclusive of inter- 



301 



est or damages did not exceed $20 ; leaving all lands where the 
quantity exceeded 1,000 acres or the tax $20, still burdened with the 
taxes and interest ; and if not paid in five years ordered them to be 
sold. The provision operated in favor of rebel squatters against 
loyal men living in and out of the State, as the squatters' lands gen- 
erally came within the exemption, and in nearly all cases they had 
suffered their lands to be returned delinquent for 1861 and 1862, as 
they spurned to pay anything to the Wheeling "bogus" Government, 
while the loyal men had paid theirs and had not suffered theirs to be 
returned delinquent. The lands of non-residents, as a general thing, 
exceed 1,000 acres, and the tax $20, and so were not within the ex- 
emption. Besides, the taxes so released in favor of rebels generally, 
belong to the old State, and will have to be accounted for to her on 
the settlement, which loyal men will be taxed again to pay, if any 
balance be found against this State. If the State taxes her citizens, 
or non-residents equally with lands they own, according to fair valua- 
tion, and then goes to work and releases the rebel squatter part, or 
any other portion, leaving the burden still on the other owners, she 
thereby as palpably and clearly violates the fundamental condition of 
separation in the ordinance of 186 1 and the whole spirit of our Con- 
stitution, as she would by taxing one of two of her citizens who own- 
ed property of equal value, twice as much as the other. Here, then, 
was a manifest and unwarranted discrimination in favor of rebels and 
against loyal men, resident and non-resident. But the section goes 
further, and to make confused land titles doubly confused and open 
Pandora's box still wider, it releases all lands that had been forfeit- 
ed to the State of Virginia for taxes delinquent since 183 1, where the 
tract does not exceed one thousand acres, and all taxes and damages 
for which they were forfeited. Nearly or quite all the lands proba- 
bly, coming within this description, had inured to and vested in hold- 
ers of existing patents, which covered the same lands, or had been 
resold by the old State for two cents per acre. What had not been 
so disposed of passed to the new State and is to be accounted for to 
the old State on settlement. No one can fail to see it opens much 
ground for litigation which was closed before. I opposed and expo- 
sed it as well as I could in the Convention, but its friends rushed it 
through near the close of the session, many of the members, I be- 
lieve, not understanding the intricate subject. 

Respectfully, 

January 1, 1867. G. P. 



302 



[No. 3 .] 

WEST VIRGINIA LAND TITLES — THEIR CONFUSION AND 
UNCERTAINTY IN MANY SECTIONS — THE DEPRESS- 
ING EFFECT— A REMEDY PROPOSED. 

Editors Intelligencer : 

The first marked catering of the new State Legislature to the 
squatter influence that I have observed is the ioth section of an act 
passed March 2d, 1865, entitled "An Act to provide for the sale of 
certain lands for the benefit of the School Fund." (Session Acts of 
1865, page 82.) The act proposes to carry into effect sections 5 and 
'6 of Article 9th of the Constitution, viz : "All lands vested in the 
State by forfeiture, or by her purchased at the Sheriff's sale, and 
which have not been released, or exonerated, or redeemed before the 
:21st of June, 1868, shall be sold" &c, in the manner provided in the 
3d section of the same article ; and section 6 of the same article of 
the Constitution provides that the balance of the proceeds, after pay- 
ing the taxes and damages, (which are to go to the School Fund,) and 
the cost, shall be paid to the former owner, or his legal representa- 
tives, if claimed in two years. It will be observed that the Constitu- 
tion expressly directs that all lands that are so vested and not releas- 
ed or redeemed, are to be thus sold and the proceeds thus disposed 
of. The ioth section of the act of the Legislature, before mention- 
ed, undertakes to divert so much of the lands as squatters may have 
possessed ten years and paid the taxes assessed to them, from the 
course of disposition thus pointed out by the Constitution, and give 
them outright to the squatters. Of course the section is a nullity, as 
it is in direct conflict with the Constitution ; but it nevertheless shows 
to an extraordinary degree, the same old spirit of catering to squat- 
ters, and unjust discrimination against "non-resident proprietors" as 
well as a readiness to defraud both the school fund and honest own- 
ers, for the sake of conciliating and getting the votes of these squat- 
ters. Messrs. Ferguson, Maxwell, Lamb and other lawyers of dis- 
tinction, were members of the Legislature that passed this law. That 
section should be swept from the statute book. True, the political 
demagogues, for more than forty years have aimed to justify such 
outrageous legislation by pretending that their object was to encour- 



303 



age actual settlers and build up the country. This is false. Their 
object has been to conciliate the squatters and get their votes by de 
priving honest ''non-resident proprietors" of their land. Besides, the 
unsettled, wilderness condition of so much of our lands at this time,, 
demonstrate the entire futilty of such a purpose, if it were true, which 
should stop its repetition. 

The act passed the 24th of February, 1866, entitled, "An Act to 
dispense with the assessment of back taxes, in certain Counties," 
session acts of 1866, page 50, affords another striking illustration of 
the same spirit. This act professes to relieve the assessors of all 
Counties in which taxes were not assessed and returned to the Audi- 
tor's office for the years r86i, 1862, 1863 and 1864 from their obliga- 
tion and duty to assess them for those years, with this exception : 
"that the lands of all non-residents, which are situated in such Coun- 
ties, shall be taxed ;" and section 2d releases all persons and prop- 
erty, both real and personal, from all liabilities to pav taxes for the 
years aforesaid, with this proviso: "Provided, however, that* the 
lands owned by non-residents of the State, shall not be exempted 
from taxation." Nearly all the inhabitants of the Counties contem- 
plated w r ere rebels, and off in Dixie ; so no assessment could be 
made for those years under what they termed the "bogus" govern- 
ment, and returned to Wheeling. Was it this fact that induced the 
members of the last Legislature to make this unconstitutional dis- 
crimination in their favor against loyal "non-resident proprietors" liv- 
ing in loyal States; and this, too, in direct violation of the fundamen- 
tal conditions of the ordinance of separation, and the provisions of 
our Constitution before recited ? If the Legislature had intended to 
discriminate in favor of loyal men even, it had no constitutional right 
to do so ; and such a course of legislation, if persisted in, cannot fail 
to stamp her character abroad, as being more perfidious than the old' 
State has ever been. This legislation, I submit, should be at once 
modified, so as to conform to the fundamental condition of separa- 
tion laid clown by the mother State, and to the Constitution establish- 
ed by our people; and future repetitions henceforth scrupulously 
avoided by their legislative servants. 

Having stated what seemed to me to be the cause and nature of 
the evil, I will venture to suggest that the coming Legislature, after 
repealing these unconstitutional laws, pass the following bill, or sub- 
stance of it. as an additional remedy, viz : 



304 



A bill to settle conflicting claims to land and quiet the titles 
thereto. 

Whereas, By the practice of granting patents heretofore by the 
State of Virginia, for lands west of the Alleghany mountains, without 
first ascertaining the fact that they were "waste and unappropriated/' 
successive patents were granted for the same land, or part, or parts 
thereof, by reason whereof claims thereto have become conflicting 
and interfering, and the title uncertain, thereby depreciating the value 
and preventing the settlement and improvement thereof; and, where, 
as, it is of the first importance to the State that the title to land 
should be judicially settled, and quieted, and shadows removed as 
soon as practicable, and the gross frauds stopped which are being 
practiced upon the public, by sales of worthless patents that bear the 
seal and signatures of former Governors of Virginia — which can be 
done more effectually, expeditiously and economically by proceedings 
in equity than by suits at law, in the form now in use, which afford 
but inadequate relief, for remedy whereof, 

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virgiftia : 

i. Any person having valid title to land, legal or equitable, derived 
mediately or immediately, through grants from the State of Virginia, 
to which, or part, or parts thereof, in severalty or otherwise, there are 
adverse claims derived mediately or immediately, through grant or 
grants from the State of Virginia, which are junior to his, may, within 
five years from the passage of this act, file his bill in equity in the 
office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, for the County wherein the 
greater part may lie, to be sworn to by the complainant, setting forth 
the grouuds and chain of his title and the boundaries of his land, or. 
patent, or patents, under which he claims, with the names of the per- 
son^ known to him to be residing within such boundaries, who claim 
adversely to his title, mediately or immediately, through such junior 
grants from the State of Virginia — any part thereof in severalty or 
otherwise ; and thereupon it shall be the duty of the Clerk of said 
Court to issue summonses to the persons so named as claiming ad- 
versely as aforesaid, to be made returnable on the first day of the 
first term of the said Court, which shall commence more than forty 
days thereafter, directed to the Sheriffs of the Counties in which the 
defendants are described as residing, which it shall be the duty of 
such Sheriffs to serve and return in the manner now provided by law 



305 



for serving summonses in suits in equity; such service to be made, 
however, thirty clays before the day on which they are made return- 
able. 

2. Upon the return of the summonses, duly executed, as to such 
of the defendants as shall not appear during the term to which such 
summonses are made returnable, the complainant's bill shall be taken 
for confessed ; and such as shall appear, shall at the next succeeding 
term of the Court, or at such intervening rule day as the Court shall 
order, file their answers subscribed and sworn to, setting forth the 
boundaries of their respective claims, with the grounds and claims 
of their title, and upon their failing so to do, the complainant's bill 
shall be taken for confessed as to them also, unless the Court shall 
for good cause shown, give further time to make and file their 
answers. 

3. The Court in which any such bills shall be pending, shall have 
power, upon the request of either party, to appoint Commissioners 
or masters in chancery to take testimony, and to ascertain and report 
any facts pertinent to the issue, and also to appoint Surveyors to 
make any surveys that may become necessary, and that either party 
shall require ; and when the testimony is completed, shall proceed to 
hear and determine, sitting as a Court of Equity, all questions of 
law and fact arising in the case, and to annul and order to be can- 
celled, in whole or in part, all patents, so far as they shall be 
found to be invalid ; and its decision shall be conclusive upon the 
rights of the parties, provided, any party aggrieved may appeal within 
the time and upon the terms appeals are now allowed by law, from 
the Circuit Courts. 

4. If any person entitled to bring his bill by the provisions of the 
first section of this act, shall fail to bring and prosecute the same, 
or his action of ejectment, within the time provided in such first sec- 
tion, fie shall be forever barred of any right of entry, action or claim, 
to so much of his land as shall have been cleared and improved, 
(and to include so much adjoining woodland as may have been used 
in connection with such improvement for getting necessary fuel, and 
fencing timber for the same, provided such appertinent wood-lot 

shall not exceed acres,) by any person claiming bona fide under 

any grant from the State of Virginia, that is junior to his ; which, 
with the buildings and improvements thereon, shall be confirmed to 
the person making or claiming such clearings and improvements so 
made under junior grants as aforesaid, but shall stand confirmed in 



306 

his title to the remainder so far as such occupant is concerned ; pro- 
vided any person who has right to bring his bill by the first section* 
of this act, shall, when his right first accrues, be an infant, married 
woman or insane, such person may bring such bill or action of eject- 
ment, within one year after such disability is removed, but not after- 
wards. 

5. When in cases where the defendant shall appear and answer^ 
the Court shall decide against him, he shall be allowed the value of 
the improvements bona fide made by himself, or those under whom 
he claims, and he to account to the complainant for the fair rent for 
the use of the premises, and just compensation for damage done, 
and for what has been taken therefrom by himself or those under 
whom he claims — to be adjusted by the Court according to the rules 
laid down in chapters 135 and 136 of the Code of Virginia,, second 
edition. 

6\ The complainant, upon filing his bill, shall be enSided to a writ 
of injunction. upon the terms such writs are now granted, restraining 
the defendants from committing strip r or waste, (except by clearing; 
land for the- purpose of cultivation) or selling, or assigning the junior 
patents or grants under which they shall claim, or interest theretofore 
claimed by them, to- any person without permission from the Court. 

7. This act shall not be- construed to repeal or impair any other 
existing remedy the complainant now has r nor alter the existing stat- 
utes of limitation, except in the- instance before stated. 

Such a law, I submit, will at once place the conflicting claims be- 
tween the actual occupants under junio? grants and bona tide owners- 
under previous valid ones, whether the latter be resident or non-resi- 
dent, in process for speedy, equitable and just settlement, witfe such 
patents as are valid, judicially established, and such as are found to- 
be invalid, annulled and cancelled so as to be incapable of further 
fraud or mischief upon the public. This, a Court of equity has the 
power of doing, as well as to invoke the aid of a jury when deemed 
j>roper for settling any facts before making up its decree. It will en- 
courage actual occupants to clear and improve all the land possible, 
and so help the State, by giving him full assurance that if the real 
owner fails to come within the five years, he becomes absolute owner 
of all he has cleared, with his buildings and enough more adjoining, 
woodland to furnish his farm with necessary wood and timber. Audi 
if the owner does sue within the time and establish his title, he is u> 



307 



be allowed a fair compensation for all the improvements that have 
been made on Che land, deducting what would be fair for rent and 
what had been carried away. This leaves the occupant, if the owner 
claims, in as good or better plight than the present law allows him. 
Besides, I believe the passage of such a law would lead at once to an 
amicable adjustment with most of the occupants. Such a law will 
also do full justice to the resident and non-resident owners. As soon 
as the present ©ccupants shall be settled with, the law may be ex- 
tended to the settlement of conflicting claims under patents to lands 
remaining in a wilderness state, as both at the same time would prob- 
ably devolve to® much business upon the courts. It will be observed 
that the present action of ejectment is retained, but the time for 
bringing it against y^ctual occupants is reduced to five years, with the 
usual exceptions m favor of persons under disabilities. 

The order and service §f it, to plead in our present ejectment pro- 
ceedings, I submiit, is supediuous and should be abolished. The 
service of the declaration upon the defendant is notice enough. The 
proposed remedy, I submit, is in accordance with the fundamental 
condition of separation, prescribed by the Convention of 1861 and 
our Constitution, and disturbs no vested rights, and will do equal 
justice to all parties interested. 

The idea that a returned rebel squatter or any one else, because 
tie had taken out a junior patent paying two cents per acre, a short 
time before the rebellion, covering wo, 500, or 1,000 acres of a sur- 
vey patented 70 or 80 years ago by some revolutionary soldier or pa- 
triot, who, with his descendants or assignees, has paid all taxes since, 
and because the rebel squatter had cleared a small patch and built a 
cabin, before going to the rebellion, he is to obtain, after failing to 
destroy the Government and all loyal men, and hold the whole land 
included in his patemt to the exclusion of the first patentee or his as- 
signs, who have been all the while loyal and true, would shock the 
moral sense of all honest men. The mere act of shortening the 
statute of limitations has had, and can have, but little effect in set- 
tling conflicting claims to our hill and mineral lands, for there has 
been no such possession as to give it application, as a general thing. 

I am confident it requires some measure like the one suggested to 
restore the confidence and good wishes of our former friends, and 
induce capital and immigration to come among us. Our State posses- 
ses few, if any, of those extraordinary attractions which induce these 



308 



to a place regardless of unfriendly legislation and repellaat feelings, 
as the gold of California has done. May I not hope in common 
with our people, from the eminent legal ability and practical common 
sense, that the members elect, guarantee for our next Legislature, a 
body which alone has the power to act in the matter — the adoption 
of the measure proposed, or a better one. Until this is done, a re- 
newed squabble for locating the Capital will look like Nero's fiddling 
while Rome burned. 

Respectfully, 

G, P. 

January 3, 1867. 



OUGHT THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD TO 
BE ASSESSED AND MADE TO PAY ITS JUST SHARE 
OF TAXES ? 
Editors Intelligencer : 

Paying for myself, and the parties I represent, perhaps the largest 
tax in the State upon real property, and never having had a dollar 
released as yet by the various releasements by the Convention and 
Legislature heretofore made, which have operated almost exclusively 
in favor of rebels and squatters — you will pardon me for the interest 
I feel in the action the Legislature shall take in relation to this mam- 
moth corporation. For if rebel squatters are to be the. exclusive re- 
cipients of its gracious favors, and this mammoth corporation is to 
defy successfully its legitimate power, it is time for honest men to be 
getting out of the way. Of course, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
stands upon its legal rights as individuals stand upon theirs. This 
company is seeking its own interest, and has been ever since it was 
created, and not the interest of Virginia, or West Virginia. All its 
chartered rights, nevertheless, should be cheerfully accorded, and, at 
the same time, all the duties and obligations its charter and the law 
impose should be rigidly and fearlessly enforced. It is a Baltimore 
institution, and owes its birth to the Legislature of Maryland. The 
great purpose of its projectors was to tap the coal fields about Cum- 
berland, and the Great West at the Ohio river, and thereby secure 
trade to Baltimore — imitating in this respect the great cities at the 



309 



North. Unless they coulcl tap the Cumberland coal fields and the 
Ohio river, they could not have found half business enough to have 
supported a road. And now they talk largely about the profits of 
the east end of the road ! What would these be if it was not for the 
west end that puts them in easy communication with their coal fields 
and the west ? After going about eighty miles they found it conven- 
ient, if not absolutely necessary, to leave Maryland at Harper's Fer- 
ry, and from thence nearly all the way to the Ohio river, to use Vir- 
ginia (now West Virginia) soil. For this privilege, without which the 
road would have been valueless, the Mother State was careful to im- 
pose certain obligations and duties, all which obligations and duties 
have inured and become due to West Virginia ; and it is her right 
and duty to fearlessly exact their performance, fairly and justly, in 
order that she may give to her own citizens the protection she owes. 

What are these obligations and duties ? These, so far as they re- 
late to taxation and the exaction of fare and freight from our citi- 
zens, are contained in the 6th, 7th (being the one you copied,) and 
8th sections of an act passed by the Legislature of Virginia, March 
6th, 1847, Session Acts 1846-7, page 88. These sections contain the 
substance of an act passed February 19th, 1845, which subjects the 
Baltimore Company to the general rules and regulations established 
by the Legislature of Virginia, in 1837, for governing her own Rail- 
road corporations — making them subject to taxation, and requiring 
uniform fare and freight per mile without regard to person or dis- 
tance ; and the act amendatory thereof, passed the 28th February, 
1846, relieving the Company from taxation until its net income should 
exceed six per cent, on the capital invested. 

The letter and spirit of this legislation shows it to have been the 
intention of the Mother State, as a consideration for the important 
privilege granted, to subject the property of the Company, found or 
accruing within her jurisdiction, to taxation as soon as its net income 
should exceed six per cent, on the capital invested ; and also to all 
of her citizens the right of riding and transporting as cheaply per 
mile, as citizens of Ohio and other States. She would have done 
her own citizens great injustice if she had not secured them this 
right. Taking the figures then, as you have given them — and, doubt- 
less, correctly — that the average net income of the Company for the 
last nine years — rising sixteen per cent, on the whole capital invested 
— pray tell me where there can be any question at all to be compro- 
mised ? Cannot any taxpayer in the State ask for compromise and 



310 



release with as much grace and show of equity as this mammoth 
Company presumes to ask it ? It strikes me he can. The facts as 
stated by Mr. King, their auditor, for the purpose of raising an 
•equity in their favor, seems to me to make the other way. Their road 
from Baltimore to Harper's Ferry would hardly pay for the oil and 
fuel, if it had stopped there, and had not an extension over our terri- 
tory to the coal fields and the Ohio river — and so will the fact that 
the Company have invested $5,744,430 08 in the North Western Vir- 
ginia Railroad — a Company organized under a distinct and indepen- 
dent charter from Virginia, dated February 14, 185 1 — four years af- 
ter the act in question was passed — and which investment he says, is 
unproductive. Still, this amount, I infer, forms a part 01 the Com- 
pany's aggregate capital invested, on the whole of which it has re- 
ceived the large net profit before stated, notwithstanding the unpro- 
ductive investment in the North Western Road. Deduct the unpro- 
ductive amount from the aggregate investment and the remainder 
which has been expended on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the 
only Company or Road that West Virginia, in view of the legislation 
aforesaid of the mother State, can have any concern with — and the 
net income would obviously have been much larger. The language 
of the acts making the grants, with their dates, makes it absolutely 
certain that the obligation to pay taxes arose whenever the net in- 
come of that Road, taken as a whole, exceeded six per cent., on the 
money invested in that Road. The obligation then to pay taxes is as 
clearly attached to that Company as to myself or any other citizen — 
and what is to be done ? Compromise — release ? I ask for the 
power in the Legislature to do it ? The Mother State Legislature 
possessed such a power, and we all know, to our sorrow, how she 
abused it. If the majority in the Convention that framed the Con- 
stitution, had any fixed determination, it was to put an end to that 
enormous evil and fraud, and make taxation equal. The first section 
of the eighth article of that instrument did the work ; and the partic- 
ular enumeration of the kind of property in the last clause of that 
section, that the Legislature may, in its discretion, exempt from taxa- 
tion, clearly limits the legislative power to the subjects therein enum- 
erated — which are "property used for educational, literary, scientific, 
religious or charitable purposes, and public property." I hardly 
think this mammoth corporation will attempt to bring itself within 
either of these ; and still it would be scarcely less absurd and pre- 
sumptuous than the grounds they have put forth. The contemptible 



311 



subterfuge heretofore practiced, in attempting to avoid the manifest 
spirit and meaning of this section of the Constitution, by first making 
an equal and just assessment, and then going to work and releasing 
certain favored parties from payment of taxes, leaving the burden 
still on others, will not long be tolerated or submitted to by a just 
and intelligent people. Of course r all errors that occur in making; 
the assessment, are correctable. It is difficult to see how the grant- 
ing of any rights, withheld by this Company from citizens living along: 
the road, can give the Legislature a power, which the Constitution in 
express terms denies. If any of our citizens are being wronged by 
the Company, it is the duty of the State through her Legislature and 
Courts to provide them relief, by Constitutional means, which she 
clearly possesses. 

I don't believe, therefore,, that our Legislature will feel itself called 
upon, or justified, in giving much of its time to a claim so utterly 
groundless and so clearly beyond its power — though pressed again,, 
as I saw it last winter, with all the appliances usual on such occasions,, 
and by such a Company. The only question, it seems to me is, have 
the authorities of West Virginia the courage and nerve to assess and 
collect this just tax off this rich corporation ? If not r our people and 
the world should know it. 

Respectfullv, 

G. P. 

January 15, 1867. 



THE BESIEGERS OF THE LEGISLATURE— THEIR NEW 
MODE OF ATTACK. 

Editors Intelligencer : 

The siege of this mammoth Company upon the Legislature is une- 
qualed. A majority of the Senate has succumbed— receiving, I pre- 
sume, only part of what Tarpeia received from the besieging Sabines r 
but to receive, I trust, the; other party in crushing weight at least, from* 
a betrayed people. 

You state the Company assume to justify their demands under 
sections 46-7 of chapter 3d, session acts of Virginia, 1859 and i860,, 
pages 69-70, I presume, which imposes on internal improvement 
companies one mill per mile on every passenger transported, and 
owe-half of one per cent, of all monies received by any company for 



312 



transportation of freight; and requiring each company to report un- 
der oath of its officers, every three months, the number of passengers 
and gross amount of freight under a penalty of $500 for each neg- 
lect, and liability to have its property assessed to its full value and 
sold. And in case any railroad or canal company be only in part in 
the State, then to report such proportion of gross passenger and 
freight money received, as the part in the State bears to the whole 
improvement. 

Now, if this law were consistent with the Constitution of the old 
State, which may be well doubted, and not annulled by our Constitu- 
tion— -(and there can be no doubt that it was) — the company 1 under- 
stand has never made the quarterly reports required. And, there- 
fore, if the law were valid now, would be subject to all the penalties 
it imposes, viz : the fines, and to have all its property assessed at its 
full value and charged with all taxes in arrears and sold. One two 
hundredth part of the gross freight money it has received, on the 
proportion of the works in this State -during the last six years, with 
one mill per mile on each passenger transported in that time, would 
amount to an immense sum. . On your statement of their annual in- 
come, to fifty or sixty thousand dollars a year and three to four hun- 
dred thousand dollars for the six years — and this to be bartered away 
for about $43,000 paid now, and $30,000 annually hereafter, of which 
the State is to receive half only ! 

And a grave question may arise whether the new State may not 
have to account to the old State, for some years at least before the 
separation, for "taxes on passengers, and tonnage due from railroad 
companies," under act of February, 1863, of the re-organized gov- 
ernment. 

But section 22; chapter 4, of the Constitution of Virginia, provides 
that taxation shall be equal and uniform on all property except 
slaves. If the word "uniform" is to have any meaning at all, in this 
connection, it must mean that all real estate, whether it be the land, 
buildings and tracks of the railroad companies, or my farm, shall be 
assessed and taxed in one and the same form, and upon an equal 
and just valuation ; and the Legislature of the old State had no 
right, I submit, to assess and tax my farm in this form, and my neigh- 
bor's by compounding with him for the one-twentieth part of his 
crop, or in any other form. 

But if the old State violated her Constitution, it is 110 reason why 



O 1 O 

the new State should violate her's. The first Section, eighth Article, 
of her Constitution, admits of no doubt. To place it beyond doubt, 
after adopting the old State's provision that "taxation shall be equal 
and uniform," omitting the slave exception; she adds this clause : 
"No one species of property, from which a tax may be collected, 
shall be taxed higher than other species of property of like value," 
and then particularly enumerates the kinds of property that the Leg- 
islature may, in its discretion, exempt. All property, then, is to be 
valued and assessed in a "uniform" manner, according to that value. 
How any honest legislator, with an oath to God upon his soul, to 
uphold and observe the Constitution containing these provisions, can 
vote for the present bill, or entertain it for a moment, passes my 
comprehension. 

The excuse some make is, that it is only for five years, and does 
not compromise the rights of the State. Do they not know that 
during the five years all the extraordinary expenses of erecting our 
public buildings are to take place, and have got to be payed from 
taxes as fast as incurred, as the Constitution expressly prohibits the 
State going in debt. 

I would ask him, who says we are unable to assess and collect a 
just and equal tax of this Company— "when shall we be stronger ?" 
Nor are all the succeeding questions which that great Virginian put 
to arouse his drowsy countrymen, less applicable to ourselves at this 
time. As then was their time to test, so now is our time to test 
whether the State of West Virginia, or the Baltimore and Ohio Rail 
road Company, possess the stronger arm. 

Respectfully, 

February 26, 1867. *i. ]\ 



[No,r.] 

OUR INSANE HOSPITAL. 
Editors Intelligencer 1 

Another subject the Governor regards of primary importance, is 
the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane, located at Weston, whose 
Hoard of Managers, appointed by himself, he savs are gentlemen ot 
Pa 



?>\i 

integrity and efficiency, and who confidently expect by next f une, to* 
have room for one hundred additional patients, and accomplish it 
with the appropriations already made. But it also appears, he says, 
by their report, that there are now pending more than eighty applica- 
tions of parties who are still waiting for vacant room for their accom- 
modation ; and that it is not probaHe their number will decrease ; so 
that when accommodations are provided for these, there will still be 
no provision for the one hundred of this unfortunate class of people- 
who are yet in Asylums in Virginia, and therefore, he feels it his duty 
to recommend a liberal appropriation for the purpose of proceeding. 

■ Hy as possible with the construction of the Institution: and 
also that it will be necessary in estimating for the support of the in- 
sane, to make provisions for those remaining in the Hospital of Vir- 
ginia, being one hundred as before stated. Upon this plausible 
statement, I see a Committee of the House have reported a bill for 
appropriating $150,000 more. 

I see from the Auditor's report, that the Governor, to make up 
the sstirnated ordinary expenses for the current year, (from 1st of 
October last to 1st of October next,) includes $8o 7 ooo, balance re- 
maining unpaid of appropriations made last winter for the Peniten- 
tiary and Hospital ; which reduces the "ordinary expenses" proper,, 
as estimated for the cm rent year, to $271,150. If 'items like these, 
$75,000 for a Hospital, to cost near half a million, as is doubtless 
contemplated by its managers, and $50,000 towards erecting a Peni- 
tentiary to cost no one knows how much, are to enter into* our ordi- 
nary expenses — what amounts and what objects will constitute our 
extraordinary expeftsfcs ! 

As this Hospital is the only important public work our authorities 
have had in charge before the Penitentiary was commenced, I pro- 
pose to state some facts in relation to it. 

The Legislature by act passed the 22d of- Matfcrli, 1858; Session 
acts 1857-58, page 117 ; incorporated the Lunatic Asylum of West- 
ern Virginia, appointed nine Directors and Commissioners to select 
and purchase a site not to exceed 300 acres, and construct a com- 
modious house or houses fit for receiving and acrommocMing per- 
sons insane, provided the whole expense thereof, site and buildings, 
should not exceed $25,000. The Legislature of 1859-60- appropriat- 
ed $1*00,000 more, to be paid in two annual instalments of $50,000* 
Session acts 1859-60, page 105. 



315 



The Legislature of the Re-organized Government by act of Jan- 
uary 27 th, 1863, Session acts 186.2-3, P a § e 2 5? appropriated $40,000 
to be expended in completing and finishing the south wing and the 
b dance on the main building. The Legislature of the New State 
lias appropriated, as follows, toward its construction, viz : in 1864, 
$6,000; in 1865, $16,000; and in 1866, $75,000 ; making the aggre- 
gate appropriations for purchasing the site and constructing the 
building $260,000 which have already been made ; and it is proposed 
by the present Legislature to appropriate $150,000 more, making a 
grand total of $41 0,00.0. This will be quite an enlargement of the 
original plan contemplated by the Old State which limited all cost to 
$25,000 m 1858. 

It does seem that the Legislature should investigate carefully into 
the whole matter before they appropriate more money to this object. 
No State of the age, size and ability of ours has appropriated as 
much as we have already for a similar object, while we at the same 
time, have all our Public Buildings to erect. 

I learn from the Governor's Message of January, 1865, that after 
feeing delayed in consequence of the rebels stealing blankets, &c, 
the Hospital was finally opened tor receiving patients the 12th of 
November, 1864, and all those that had been in the Hospital of 
Ohio, and those in the jails of this State were collected and put 
therein, leaving the 100 still in the Hospitals of Virginia. 

Let us next see with what economy a-iad efficiency the affair has 
since been managed. There was appropriated by the first Legisla- 
ture of the New State, December ,7, 1863, for those then expected to 
be in the hospital $r,8oo ; in 1864, for the support of the insane, 
$10,000 : in 1865, $16,000 ; in 1866, the last Legislature appropriat- 
ed as follows : "For the current expenses of the West Virginia 
Hospital for the fiscal year 1866, $16,000." ".For expenses of luna- 
tics confined in jails and carrying them to hospital, $3,000." "For 
the support of the lunatics in the Virginia hospitals, $23,000 ;" mak- 
ing $42,000 for their support one year. 

By the Auditor's last report, he estimates for the present fiscal 
year, which the Governor endorses* $20,000 to meet the current ex- 
penses of the hospital ; $23,700 to support the insane in the Vir- 
ginia hospital ; and $5,000 to support those still remaining in our 
jails, making a total of £48,7 00, which is to be drawn from the 
treasury the present year to support our insane, besides the profit 



316 

and income of the hospital farm, and rent of buildings that have 
already cost rising $200,000, the interest on which, added to the 
money to be paid out, will amount to over sixty thousand dollars to 
support our insane the present year. 

I do not know the number of patients in the hospital and jails, but 
the Governor has told us that there are one hundred in the Virginia 
hospitals at Staunton and Williamsburg ; $23,700 distributed among 
that number will give to each $237,00 a year, and $4,55 per week. 
The estimate for those at home, in the hospital and jails, is $25,000, 
and whoever knows their number can readily make the figures as to 
them. I happen to have the annual report of the Trustees of the' 
State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester, Massachusetts, for i860, one of 
the best conducted in the country, and owned and managed exclu- 
sively by the State. The trustees fix the price of board, the first of 
each fiscal year, and it is fixed for i860 at $3,00 per week, for the 
first six months after entering the establishment, and $2,75 per week 
afterward. The cost of living generally is greater now than then, 
but is always much higher in Massachusetts than in West Virginia. 
No patients are received into that hospital, except by request of 
friends or overseers of the poor ; in both cases sufficient bonds are 
required to be given to the treasurer to pay all expenses and damage 
done ; or by order of the Courts, in which cases security is required 
on the patient's property, if he has any, and if not, the town in which 
he has his legal settlement, is held responsible to pay. By this 
means and proper management otherwise, the institution supports 
itself. It had at the close of the year i860, 331 patients. 

Chapter 85 of the Code of i860, which remains in force here, ex- 
cept the 1 6th section, which was repealed in 1863. contains all the 
necessary provisions for making secure the pay before receiving the 
patient, and enforcing the payment. Its provisions in this respect 
applied to the Staunton and Williamsburg Hospital, as they^were the 
only ones then in operation. But when our hospital went into oper- 
ation, in the Fall of 1864, these provisions applied equally to it, un- 
less altered by our Legislature, which, I think, has not been done. 

Section 8th of the Chapter aforesaid, provides that all money paid 
to the Treasurer of the Hospital for support of patients, shall be 
paid quarterly into the Treasury of the Commonwealth. The one 
hundred insane now in the hospitals of Virginia were, of course, re- 
ceived into one or the other of these hospitals before the war, and 
ample security was doubtless taken to pay their support, &c. 



317 



Now our State paid out for supporting her lunatics as follows : In 
1863, $1,800; 1864, $10,000; 1865, $16,000; 1866, $42,700; in all, 
$70,500 — all, or certainly the greater part of which was, or ought to 
have been made secure when the patients were admitted at Staunton 
and Williamsburg, before the war, or at Weston since the war, and 
the money collected and paid into the State Treasury, according to 
the law of 1858, before stated, or offset against Virginia's claim for 
support. The Auditor's estimate for the present year for supporting 
the insane is $48,700, which amount is asked to be appropriated by 
the present Legislature. I trust there is not a legislator that will ap- 
propriate another dollar to that concern in any form until this matter 
is cleared up, and the money paid over. The corporation had no 
authority to appropriate the income for patients' board to paying cur- 
rent expenses, if it had been needed, which I trust I have shown 
could not have been the case, for the money drawn from the Treas- 
ury of the State has been, of itself, more than ample. If lost by the 
negligence or carelessness of officers, be they who they may, make 
them respond. Our young State, turned into a great charitable or 
eleemosynary institution, supporting free of charge, without respect 
of ability to pay, of either patients or relatives, all people who hap- 
pen to fancy they are deranged, or that half crazy doctors may pro- 
nounce so, at the rate of $4 55 per week, and honest citizens to be 
taxed to pay ! The destitute and friendless lunatic, I will do as much 
for as any other man of my means, but suckers, drones and shirks, I 
was never made to carry quietly. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

January 25 th, 1867. 



[No. 2.] 
OUR INSANE HOSPITAL. 
Editors Intelligencer : 

Since the publication of some remarks upon this subject, in a for- 
mer number of your paper, I have read the last report of those in 
charge, furnished me by a neighbor, and have received from Dr. 
Ktrkbride, "physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane," 
his work "on the construction, organization and general arrangement 
of Hospitals for the Insane." Of this work, the compiler of the 8th 



318 



United States census, under the direction of the Secretary of the In- 
terior, speaks in 1863, thus : "In 1854 Dr. Thomas L. Kirkbride 
published a treatise "on the construction, organization and general 
arrangement of Hospitals for the Insane," which has become a stand- 
ard authority." See 8th census United States, page 94. I propose 
to give some extracts from this work, which cannot fail to be of inter- 
est to our people at this time. At page 10th, remarking on the size 
the building should be, he uses this language: "All the best author- 
ities agree that the nnmber of insane confined in one hospital should 
not exceed two hundred and fifty ;" and whenever that number is at- 
tained, instead of the States enlarging, he urgently advises the erec- 
tion of a separate building in another section of the State. And af- 
ter giving a very minute description of every thing deemed necessary 
to make the establishment complete and perfect for that number of 
patients, and giving full diagrams of his plan, which consist of a large 
centre building, with wings on either side, the whole to be built of 
brick or stone, and each wing consisting of three sections, the whole 
three stories high above the ground, with cellar under the whole, and 
dome on centre building — he remarks thus : "The general features 
-of the plan proposed in the present essay were originally prepared 
by the writer at the request of the Commissioners for putting up a 
State Hospital for the Insane in New Jersey, and the designs for that 
building were made from the sketches at that time furnished to the 
.architect." He regrets, however, that the Commissioners varied 
from it in some respect in order to diminish the cost, which impaired 
its completeness, but which the Commissioners were at that time 
supplying. That the same plan was also substantially followed by 
the State of Indiana in constructing her Hospital at Indianapolis ; 
by Illinois in erecting her's at Jacksonville ; by Pennsylvania, her's 
at Harrisburg ; and by Ohio in erecting her's at Dayton and Cleve- 
1 Liid, known as her "Northern" and "Southern" . Hospitals ; and by 
Alabama, in the construction of her Hospital, then being erected at 
Tuscaloosa. He also remarks thus: "If there was any doubt of 
the propriety of putting up the whole building at once, I should have 
no hesitation in saying that rather than leave off the extreme wings, 
it would be advisable that the work should be commenced at once at 
both extremities, and made gradually to approach the centre." See 
piges 34, 35 and 11. 

At page 30 he remarks thus on the cost : "The cost of a Hospital 
like that described will vary at different sections of country according 



to the price of materials, and labor, and the facilities for mamifactur- 
ing the various fixtures, that may be required for the different pur- 
poses of the Institution. The estimates for completing such a build- 
ing at Philadelphia, as made by competent architects, is one hundred 
and fifty-five thousand dollars. To the same I would add for the 
healing and ventilating apparatus, for bath and wash rooms, water 
closets, sinks, water tanks and pipes, cooking apparatus, washing and 
drying fixtures, bake rooms, and steam engine and pumps, $25,000. 
The cost of furniture for every part of such a Hospital, when full of 
patients, would amount to about $15,000, The farm stock, wagons 
and tools, and the different vehicles required would cost probably 
$3,000 additional; so that, exclusive of the farm, which of late has 
generally been presented to the State, either as a gift from benevolent 
iudividuals, or by some town, desirous of having the Institution near 
it, the entire cost of building such a Hospital for the Insane, provid- 
ing all its fixtures and furnishing it in every part, would be in this 
section of country (Philadelphia) not far from two hundred thousand 
dollars." 

In making an estimate of the cost of a Hospital for the Insane, I 
felt no disposition to underrate it." 

Dr. Kirkbride puts the whole expense of labor and professional 
care of his complete hospital with 250 patients, at $12,637 a V ear i anc ^ 
shows by his annual reports of the institution over which he presides, 
that very few patients remain over one year, and that the number of 
admissions and discharges are about equal each month ; and that of 
the 3,360 patients that have been in that hospital since 1841 more 
than half have been discharged cured, after an average of six months 
treatment. 

Now let us compare the money already expended, the present con- 
dition and capacity, and the success of our hospital thus far with the 
facts before stated. Two hundred and sixty-seven thousand three 
hundred and sixteen dollars and ninety- eight cents had been appro- 
priated toward its construction before the present Legislature met \ 
and I see the Richmond Legislature in s86i appropriated $25,000 
for completing a wing of the Northwestern Hospital so as to accom- 
modate the lunatics then in jail, which sum is not included in the sum 
above named. 

Now what has been accomplished ? 1 see bv their last report that 
forty three patients are all there is room for or that can be accommo- 



320 



dated ; that fifty four patients is the number that had been in the 
establishment between January first and October first — nine months 
« — -that fourteen had been admitted, six discharged, cured, one much 
improved, and four had died during this nine months. They make 
the current expenses during this nine months, $9,314 37. Of this 
there was paid out for salaries and labor $4,994.89— -about 3-5 as much 
as Dr. Kirkbride required in 1854 to equip and manage a complete 
hospital with 250 patients a year, and cure over one-half of these, 
and discharge nearly all the balance that were living. Superintend- 
ent Hills attempts to account for this difference in the fact that his 
cases are of long standing and therefore incurable, and seems to 
complain that somebody has not the power to remove these and give 
room for such as are curable. I had supposed the Board had this 
power. He also urges it as a cogent reason why the south wing — for 
that is all, as I understand, that is as yet commenced— and even the 
whole building should be speedily completed. And to make the 
necessity more apparent, he says there are now over forty in the part* 
of the wing that is finished, over eighty applications already made, 
and by May or June, when this wing is to be opened, he calculates 
there will be fifty or sixty more — making a total of one hundred and 
sixty or one hundred and seventy ; that the finished capacity cannot 
then exceed one hundred and forty to one hundred and fifty patients, 
and though these may be reduced some by death, recovery and other 
causes, there will remain the one hundred in the hospitals of old Vir- 
ginia unprovided for. He further states, as an adept in the business, 
that from fifty to one hundred new cases may be annually expected 
to occur among a population as large as ours, and therefore con- 
cludes that it is absolutely necessary that the whole building should 
be cofnpleted as soon as possible. 

If we shall provide suitable accommodations for 118 insane per- 
sons ctt a time, we do as much as is done on an average throughout 
the country. There were in i860, 11,133 insane persons in hospitals 
in the United States, and our share in proportion to our population, 
w.U be about the number stated ; and according to Dr. Hills' state- 
ment, approved bv the Board, the $75,000 appropriated by the last 
Legislature, will accomplish that, and more too ; and then by the ro- 
tation practiced in all other hospitals of the kind, ours shall be made 
a place of temporary residence and treatment ' for such as are curable 
until cured, and then with such as prove to be incurable, removed^ 



321 



giving place to others, we shall do- as much for this unfortunate class 
of our people as the rest of our country are doing. 

But Dr. Hills, to make out an absolute necessity for the whole 
building being completed, seems to ignore rotation or discharges, and 
dwells altogether on making provisions ample enough for all present 
and future cases as permanent residents; and the Board endorses 
his views fully, as will be seen by reference to that report. At page 
5 they say they convened last spring soon after the Legislature ad- 
journed and resolved to proceed and finish the first section adjoining 
that already occupied, and then apply the remainder of the $75,000 
to constructing the next adjoining section. At page 6 they say this 
"first section" will be completed by May or June next, and will ac- 
commodate about one hundred additional patients, and that to com- 
plete it for their reception will take all but $6,000 of the $75,000, 
and that this $6,000 they propose to expend on the "next section" as 
above mentioned, which will extend to the centre building, which their 
architect, and they approve his views, says should be built at the same 
time — though contrary to Dr. Kirkbride's plan as before stated. 

On this statement, I presume, they induced the present Legislature 
to appropriate $100,000 more, making the entire appropriations for 
the purpose of construction merely three hundred and ninety-two 
thousand three hundred and sixteen dollars and seventy-eight cents, and 
as it takes $69,000 to finish what they term "section first," it will 
probably take the remaining $6,000 with the remaining $100,000 to 
build and complete what they term "second section," which is to ex- 
tend to the centre or main building, leaving this and a corresponding 
wing still to be erected, which at the rate of the cost so far will make 
the whole structure, when completed, cost one million at least, and 
ought to accommodate 500 to 600 patients, a number which every- 
body says is twice too large for any one establishment. And our 
present Legislature appear to have appropriated the $100,000 and 
committed themselves to the magnificent humbug without having 
called those in charge to strict account for the past, and, without de- 
bate even ; and with as little concern or forecast apparently, as they 
would take a pinch of snuff! This is the language of the Board's 
Report after stating how fast our people are going crazy, viz: u 2'he 
speedy completion of the entire building is therefore an actual necessity''' 
1 have never seen the building, nor a plan of it, but suppose they 
mean by the "entire building," what Dr. Kjrkbride describes to be a 



complete one, viz : the main centre building with two corresponding; 
wings extending from it in opposite directions. 

Now I do not know how much our public servants may feel the- 
want of so extensive accommodations in this regard; yet I feel sure 
our people have no idea of all becoming crazy at present, nor of 
being humbugged in this matter much longer. 

Respectfully, 

G. P. 

February 226., 1867. . . 



[No. 3.I 

OUR INSANE HOSPITAL— WHAT EXPERIENCED MEN 

SAY OF IT, 

Md Hen's Intelligencer : 

I have just received a letter from. Dr. Kirkbuti>e, to whom I en- 
closed a copy of your paper, containing my last article, on the above 
subject, with a note asking if I was right in the views expressed — of 
which the following is a copy : 

"Penm t a. Hospital, for Insane, 

Philadelphia, March 2, 1867. 
My Dear Sir — -I have received your letter of the 26th ult~ and 
also the paper, for which I am much indebted to you. I have onlly a 
single objection to make, that as the cost of material and labor are 
now greatly increased, from what they were when my little book was 
written, the cost of building and managing a Hospital must neces>- 
sarily be proportionately greater. 

Very truly your^, 

Thomas L. Kirkbride," 

I have just received, through a friend, who communicated the facts 
to Dr. D. Tilden Brown, who is at the head of the Bloomingdale 
Asylum, in the city of New York, and second to none in the United 
States, in this specialty, and this was his reply : "West Virginia is 
spending money most lavishly and unwisely, and ] can safely say, 
that she will be swamped before she completes her Asylum, if she 
goes on as she has commenced." 1 (A fact I have taken for granted, 
all know.) 

It is undoubtedly true, as Dr. KirkbRide says, that the expense of 



323 



building and managing has proportionately increased ; but only as 
the present price of gold exceeds our present currency, which is lit- 
tle above one-third ; but no more, unless the excise taxation may 
affect it some little. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P, 

Wellsburg, March 7, 1867. 

P, S. Could our legislators have realized, when they voted for 
the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad bill, that they were authorizing 
the mammoth company to purchase and hold, for ten years after the 
completion of their road, one-third of all the land comprised in the 
State ? Such is the fact Five millions of acres is equal to 7,812 
square miles, and our State contains but about 23,000 square miles. 
And all this land to be exempted from taxation until the State shall 
be able to prove that the Company is realizing ten per cent, on its 
capital. See section 7, of charter granted March 1st, 1866, to C. & 
O. R. R. Company, and sections 2 and 14 of the recent act. Be- 
sides, our Legislature has no more constitutional power to exempt a 
railroad from taxation until its profits reach ten per cent, or any 
other sum, than it has to exempt a farmer until his farm yields that 
per cent, profit Unless the Legislature imposes an "equal and uni- 
form tax, according to valuation," as the Constitution provides, the 
whole levy, I submit, is void, and the State can collect no part of it. 
We can hardly afford to be thus liberal to foreign capitalists. 

G. P; 



THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY— 
THE DANGER TO BE APPREHENDED FROM IT — THE 
DUTY OF THE COMMISSIONERS. 
Editors Intelligencer ,• 

I have carefully read the Act relating to this Company, published 
ill a recent number of your paper, and propose to examine it in con- 
nection with existing facts. 

The new State in 1863, became the absolute owner of the line of 



324 



this road, as far as her East line, with the half million worth of work 
that had been done upon it between Charleston and Guyandotte. 
On looking at the map, everybody must see it is the key to by far the 
shortest, cheapest, and in every respect, most desirable communica- 
tion between the West and tidewater ; and, without it, the old State 
and her harbors must remain comparatively unimproved, and many 
of her railroads "commencing everywhere and ending nowhere/' 
and built with a view to War, rather than Peace — comparatively 
valueless. With these unequalled advantages, which this key gives 
the new State, I have always looked upon the Covington and Ohio 
Railroad as self-constructing from its own intrinsic merits, when the 
old State shall be republicanized and safe, and capable of producing 
vast benefit to the State, without a dollar's expense to her, if wisely 
and prudently managed. 

What has she done thus far ? March 3d, 1864, she chartered the 
W T est Virginia Central Railway, and transferred to that Company the 
portion of the Covington and Ohio Railroad route West of Charles- 
ton, with the half million worth of work. Much has been promised 
by this Company, and various legislation has been made since re- 
specting it, but not a blow has been struck towards its construction. 
Just as the Legislature of 1866 was about to adjourn, Commissioners 
from Richmond arrived at Wheeling with certain Acts, touching the 
Covington and Ohio Railroad and Virginia Canal Company, passed 
by the same Legislature at Richmond, that had on the 5th of Decem- 
ber previous, repealed the Acts of the Wheeling Legislature passed 
in 1863, giving consent to Berkeley and Jefferson Counties becoming 
part of West Virginia, and asked our Legislature to co-operate in re- 
lation to both subjects, which it did, thereby recognizing the legiti- 
macy of the Richmond Legislature, which Congress has all the 
while denied. Our Legislature granted a charter giving full control 
of the balance of the route within her jurisdiction, and authorized 
the Company to make the best terms it could with the W T est Virginia 
Central Railway for the portion between Charleston and the mouth 
of Big Sandy ; and appointed five Commissioners to co-operate with 
those of the old State in disposing of the charter to such capitalists 
as would give the best assurance and security that the road should 
be commenced and built agreeably to the charter. The charter con- 
tains an express provision that the work should be commenced in 
six months and completed, from Covington to the Ohio river in six 
years; and on failure in either particular, the whole to become for- 



325 



felted and revested in the State. These Commissioners, at the head 
of whom was Judge Summers, who has been disabled during the last 
six months by sickness, have failed, it seems, to effect such a coo- 
tract. And now comes the magnificent scheme you publish which 
•our last Legislature has sanctioned and enacted into law. It ap- 
points. five Commissioners, two of the old and three new ones, and 
clothes them or any three of them without the concurrence of the 
other two, with full and unlimited power to contract on any terms 
they choose, directly with the West Virginia Central Railway, or the 
Virginia Central Railroad, to construct the Covington and Ohio 
Railroad within six years, commencing ivhen it chooses. And there- 
upon the name of the railroad so contracted with is to become 
changed to "the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company," which 
is to absorb all the powers, privileges, and rights conferred on the 
Covington and Ohio Railroad by its charter, without assuming any of 
the material obligations and conditions imposed by the same, and 
possess without any limit of time or otherwise, the power to absorb 
at will the other road named, and the South Side Railroad from 
Petersburg to Lynchburg, and the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad 
from Norfolk to Petersburg, or any one or more of them— to pur- 
chase the Blue Ridge Railroad and build a road from Lynchburg to 
Covington, as well as other roads in old Virginia ; to possess a cap- 
ital of thirty millions and hold five millions of acres of land for ten 
years. (See Section 14.) Or if our Commissioners or any three of 
them elect, they may at once open books and organize the Covington 
and Ohio Railroad Company, which, as soon as organized, is to have 
full power to consolidate with all or any of the foregoing Companies, 
and thereby acquire the name of "the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail- 
road Company," with all the powers, rights and privileges, but with- 
out the obligations and conditions as before stated. As I said be- 
fore there is no time fixed for commencing work on our road, nor is 
there any provision that it shall forfeit if our road shall not be finish- 
ed in six years. It is exempted from taxation until its net profits 
shall be ten per cent., which exemption is in the charter dated March 
1 st, 1866, and inures as a privilege to the new Company. 

As soon therefore as three of the Commissioners, even against the 
consent of the other two, shall contract directly or through the Cov- 
ington and Ohio Railroad Company, which they can easily organize 
for the purpose, the consolidation is effected, and West Virginia 
loses forever her valuable key before stated, which will pass at once 



perhaps into the hands of mere speculators, and our road may or 
may not be built within the six years, as shall best suit the whims 
and speculative interest of that class of men, and if it shall be built, 
it will be owned and controlled by a Company likely to possess three 
times the power possessed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
which has ever since our State was created, set our laws at defiance, 
with entire impunity. Nor will our Legislature possess any power to 
restrain or check the monster corporation when once formed, for she 
has reserved no such power, and the recent Act it has passed will 
become a part of the Contract which her Commissioners may make, 
and as such will be protected as inviolate by both our own and the 
Federal Constitution. Old Virginia, and perhaps the private stock- 
holders, would, I have no doubt, have made a present of one or more 
of their dilapidated roads, for the sake of securing the use of the 
key we hold, and a line of railroad from the Ohio to Richmond and 
Norfolk; but the Act of our Legislature expressly provides for a 
purchase and payment of par value in her bonds cancelled. See 
Section 13. 

There is no doubt, if Old Virginia could and would give her inter- 
est in one or more of her dilapidated roads to connect with ours, and 
had any fixed political status, and her present authorities a recogniz- 
ed power to act, it would be an inducement for solid capitalists to 
take hold and build our road. But the legitimacy of her present 
government including her Legislature, is denied by Congress, and 
the other loyal governments, except our authorities, and they will 
probably learn the effects of this cozy recognition before they get 
through with the question of Berkeley and Jefferson. 

As I said before, the State is sold* unless our Commissioners shall 
reserve, in any contract they may make, a right in our Legislature to 
check and restrain the portion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad 
Company, that shall be within its jurisdiction, and make it an express 
condition that our road shall be commenced ivithin six months or a 
year, and completed within the six years, or else the whole to become 
forfeited and revest in the State. The Commissioners have the pow- 
er to make such reservation and condition by the Act of March 1st, 
1866, Section 9th, and the t6th Section of the recent Act. The 
future responsibility, therefore, rests with the Commissioners, and to 
them the people will look to properly guard their great interest, and 
unless some reservation and condition as before indicated shall be 
made, "the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company" must soon 



327 



become more omnipotent and oppressive than the Camden and 
Amboy ever was. Why should it not be made subject to taxation 
whenever its net profits amount to six per cent., and so be put on a 
par with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company in this respect ? 

Respectfullv, 

G. P. 

March 4, 1867. 



WEST VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY. 

Editor of Wellsburg Herald : 

I see by the Wheeling Intelligencer of the 5th inst., that the Board 
which has charge of the Penitentiary, after advertising in that paper 
alone, I presume, as I have seen it in no other, for ten days only, for 
"sealed proposals," to furnish 10,000 perch of stone — met on the 3rd 
of the present month, and awarded the following contracts, viz : to 
Edward Lower, of Marshall County, 2,000 perch, 300 rubble, at 
$7 per perch, and 1,700 do. dimension, at $8,50. To J. W. Hobbs 
& Co., Hancock County, 1,500 perch, 375 rubble at $7, and 1,125 do. 
dimension, at $9,34 per perch. Linle & Vilton, of Marshall Coun- 
ty, 1,500 perch, 375 rubble, at $7, and 1,125, dimension, at $8,87 per 
perch, amounting in all to 5,000 perch, and to cost $42,286 15, an 
average of $8,45 per perch. It does not appear in the advertisement 
nor statement in the Intelligencer, whether the rubble stone is to be 
"coursed" or "uncoursed," which, I understand, is a material differ- 
ence, the former being guaged and dressed with the hammer, while 
the latter are neither assorted nor dressed. It is stated in the same 
article in the Intelligencer, that it is estimated that 52,000 perch of 
stone will be required to complete the building, which at a like rate 
will cost four hundred and forty-nine thousand, four hundred dollars, 
nearly a half a million for the stone alone, which cannot constitute 
one-half of the entire cost of the Penitentiary ! Our poor little State,, 
the child of the storm, rent and impoverished as she is, thus com- 
mences her career, by putting one million in an undefined and cha- 
otic pile of stone, at Weston, dignified with the name of an Insane 
Hospital ; and another million in another pile equally undefined and 



indeterminate as to cost for aught that appears, at Moundsvflle, to be 
dignified with the name of a Penitentiary ! What a future this por- 
tends for her three hundred and forty thousand inhabitants! What 
a recommendation to go abroad ! It is a pity all her proposed pub- 
lic buildings were not under way in the different sections of the State 
so as to give all her people an extra chance to roll up their sleeves 
and pitch in and finish the poor thing at once, while the Bankrupt 
law is in force. Think if the gentlemen comprising that Board had 
been about to expend $42,286 25 of their own money they would 
have awarded such contracts upon so short and limited advertisement 
when only half of what they had advertised for had been taken ? 
Stopped it would seem in order to reserve the balance for the future 
enjoyment of the same parties at the same price, in imitation of the 
Hospital. If there had been a present want of material, why did 
they not advertise sooner ? 

The township of Wellsburg recently contracted for the stone, in- 
cluding dimension and rubble, for the foundation of a large School 
house, at $4,50 a perch, when furnished hammered, dressed and laid, 
and mortar found. I understand the contractors for the Penitentiary 
are to furnish the stone merely and these undressed. Like the Kings 
of Egypt the party, if not the State, seems bent on piling up its own 
tomb, which if the present course is continued, few will say the for- 
mer does not deserve, 

Respectfully, 

April 12, 1867. G. P. 



WEST VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY — THE LATE REPORT 
OF THE DIRECTORS— THE PLAN OF BUILDING ADOPT- 
ED — OTHER PENITENTIARIES AND THEIR CON- 
VICTS—EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS — NECESSITY FOR 
THOROUGH REFORM— THE NEXT LEGISLATURE. 

Editors Intelligencer : 

The estimated amount of stone required to complete the Peniten- 
tiary, in my remarks to the Herald yesterday, I took fiom your paper 
of the 5th inst. It struck me at the time as large, but as extrava- 
gance is the order of the day with our public servanls, and your 
statements so uniformly correct, t ventured to take it as a basis of 



320 



calculation — not having seen the Directors' report, which, it seems 
by your paper to-day, was made to the last Legislature. For some 
cause or other they don't send me copies. But the advertisement 
they put in your paper was for 7,500 perch of dimension stone — 
1,500 perch more than their reported estimate ; and before making 
their report it appears they had contracted for 4,000 perch of stone 
of some kind. These facts show already considerable enlargement 
of the estimate made in the report, and with other facts that appear, 
may make the estimate of 52,000, as stated in your paper of the 5th 
inst., not far from correct, in reality. 

But the plan which I see is proposed in their report, a copy of 
which has just been handed me by a friend, looks to me very objec- 
tionable in many respects ; and especially its size and style of finish. 
They say it is the plan adopted by the State of Illinois— which now 
contains about 2,000.000 of people — in constructing its Penitentiary 
very recently built at joliet, and which, then contained over 700 
convicts. Why did they not copy, so far as size is concerned, from 
some State containing a population something near the number of 
ours, as N4aine, with a population, in i860, of 628,266 — -nearly double 
that of ours — with one State's Prison only, and that at Thomaston, 
in which, in 1861, was an average number of rr2 convicts, and con- 
ducted on the Auburn plan; or New Hampshire, with a population! 
of 326,083, which has but one State's Prison, which is at Concord, 
and has an average of about 119 convicts; of Vermont, with a pop- 
ulation of 315,116, and one Stale's Prison, which is at Windsor, and 
has an average of about 95 convicts ; or Connecticut, with a popula- 
tion of 460,147 which has but one State's Prison, and that at Weath- 
ersfield, in which are on an average 160 convicts ? The populations 
of these last named States approach most nearly that of ours f 
(which is not more than 340,000-,) and like ours r are rural and agri- 
cultural peoples. 

Let us now examine the plan the Directors report they have adopt 
ed. And first, its size. It is the plan, as before stated, recently 
adopted by the great State of Illinois, which has six times as many 
people as ours, and probably ten times the wealth, and with all her 
other public buildings built and paid for. The Superintendent's- 
house is to be eighty rive feet in front, and three stories high above 
the basement. On the right and. left of the Superintendent's house- 
are to be cell-buildings each 184 feet long by 52 feet wide, and four 
stories high above the ground, aud each wing or cell-building to con>- 
R2 



330 



tain 240, or both 480 cells, which will accommodate at least 480 con 
victs at a time. Is it to be expected that our population is to supply 
this number of convicts — four times the number of the other States- 
named— after expending the large amounts of money and making the 
efforts to build churches and school-houses that we have and are 
doing? I trust not. Besides these buildings, the Directors propose 
to inclose seven acres of ground with a wall 30 feet high, including' 
the portion below ground, 3 feet, 9 inches thick, which is to inclose- 
the various workshops. 

But the Directors say the Superintendent's ho-use and one wing r 
with 240 cells, is all that will be needed for some time to come, and 
so propose to erect the entire walls- of the whole building,. an»d finish* 
and complete the exterior now, but to finish, fit up and furnish at the 
present, only the Superintendent's feouse with one wing r and leave the 
other for posterity to finish and fill up. What a compliiwentary legacy 
to transmit to our posterity ' The crumbling, inieriorally unfinished 1 
and untenanted wing of that Penitentiary I .Besides how profitable 
to the State will be the investment I 

But they propose to complete and finish the entire exterior of the 
building, including the Superintendent's bouse and both wings in the 
"castellated gothic style." The word "castellated" means "adorned 
with, turrets and battlements, like a castle" — a sentiment akin to the 
one of our Legislature last winter on a subject it indefinitely post- 
poned. Who would not be a convict with such encouragement, and 
baronial accommodations provided for him ? The moral sense and 
taste of the world heretofore have been, to make their Bastiles and 
State Prisons objects of terror and repulsion, rather than ornament- 
ed, inviting retreats like the plan proposed. Who can doubt but that 
it is another hospital folly or swindle ? 

Robert Hosea, Esq., of Bethany, an experienced stone mason, in- 
formed me to-day that he is now engaged for the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road in. building abutments,, composed of cheesed stone, which he- 
furnishes, prepares and lays for $9.50 a perch. 

I submit that our people have but one course to pursue, which is* 
to elect men to the next Legislature who shall pledge themselves in 
writing beforehand, and whose established character shall be their 
guaranty, to arrest at once the present fatal course, clean, out all cor- 
ruptionists and constitution-breakers, of whatever parly or religious, 
denomination they may profess to be ; take from the Executive most 



331 



'■>!* his present appointing power, oblige that department to see that 
the laws are faithfully and impartially executed against corporations 
as well as individuals, compel all public monies, whether belonging 
to State, County, city, township or school district, to be faithfully ac- 
counted for and "accurate and detailed statements" of its expendi- 
ture "published"" and laid before the people, and bring the State in all 
respects back to its Constitution and to the model of purity, simplici- 
ty and economy, its makers intended. Have our people the courage 
and virtue to do it.? The occasion for crying Rebel and Copper- 
head, and that he is an enemy to the new State, has, I submit, passed 
away with us, in the opinion of honest men, and become a mere 
catch-word for the veriest demagogue. The radical change that is 
about to take place in the old State must extinguish in the former all 
cleswe to re-unite, and fix their future hopes and expectations in com- 
mon with the loyal people, upon the future success and prosperity of 
the new State, whose worst enemies now appear to be those who 
have been loudest heretofore in professions of friendship. Honest 
and intelligent statesmen, who look through the State and compre- 
hend its real wants, and who will seek earnestly to provide for them 
instead of their own enrichment, are the kind of physicians our suf- 
fering and abused State now requires. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

April 13, 186$. 



HORACE GREELEY AND JEFFERSON DAVIS— THE REP- 
RESENTATIVE MEN OF THE IRREPRESSIBLE CON- 
FLICT. 
Editors Intelligence r ? 

How strikingly the saying "extremes meet" was illustrated in Hor- 
ace Greeley's traveling from New York to Richmond and offering 
himself, unsolicited, as the first man to set Jeff. Davis at liberty, 
when neither humanity, a just sense of propriety, nor good taste, 
would seem to demand or warrant it, as there were plenty of his own 
party ready and desirous to become his bail. 



332 



Each had headed one of the parties, whose conflict during the past 
seven years has no parallel, either in the expenditure of blood and 
treasure, or barbarities committed. In it has been sacrificed, about 
a million of lives and five to six billion of money ; and Davis, whom 
all sane minds must hold responsible, has coolly, and calculatingly 
murdered from fifty to one hundred thousand of our brave soldiers, 
while in his hands as prisoners of war — a relation held to be sacred 
and inviolable by all civilized nations, and closed the scene, as all 
:hinking men believe, in either instigating or consenting to the assas- 
sination of the President. 

Greeley, seized with a vague hope of glory and large support to 
his paper, commenced the strife by stirring up slavery with a long 
pole — long enough to keep himself out of personal danger — and even 
pushed his side of the preliminary war of words, until he and his 
party had spread rank nullification upon the statute books of fifteen 
of the Northern States under the guise of "personal liberty laws" — 
wanting only. the "overt act" to complete the highest crime known to 
the law — believing all the while the assailed party dared not fight. 
Davis and his party to protect the large pecuniary interest at stake, 
and gratify an equally unhallowed ambition — madly threw off the 
Constitution, that had been and would have continued to be, their 
shield, if retained and faithfully adhered to, and committed the "overt 
act." The life of the Government at once became involved in the 
issue, and to save that life followed the mighty strife and sacrifice. 

As a mere incident, or accident, in this strife, so far as human 
agency was concerned, as the loyal party did not seek it at the com- 
mencement — slavery has been destroyed. And as the negro preach- 
er said the other day in a speech to his people at Petersburg, Va., 
"his race owed their freedom to neither party — but to God." 

We all know and feel that the terrible guilt of treason of the deep- 
est dye, rests upon some of the leaders, of one side or the other, or 
both — but not upon the honest vindicators and defenders of the 
Government when forcibly assailed, nor on the mere deluded instru- 
ments who blindly assailed it. And if the whole was Providential, in 
order to remove slavery, as some believe, it can afford no plea in bar 
to an indictment for treason in this case, nor be permitted to exten- 
uate the guilt or mitigate the penalty. The Divine Author who said 
"offences must needs come," said also, "woe unto him through whom 
they come." 



333 



The Government, with its past and .present character, its future 
hopes and safety, demand that fit expiation be made for example 
sake for such great crimes, and not passed over as light and trivial 
affairs, over which the head leaders may shake hands and call it 
square. The widowed, orphaned and bereaved millions throughout 
the land, the burdened tax payers, and nay, the spirits of a million of 
martyred dead, will claim to be heard in this matter, and not leave it 
to Jefferson Davis and Horace Greeley, though among the prin- 
cipal originators, to settle as if it was a mere personal affair. They 
and the country demand an expiation that shall deter a repetition, 
and "make treason odious," and the thought of attempting it horri- 
fying. This is the policy of other nations, and human nature is the 
same with us as with them, and restrained from committing crime by 
a fear of punishment — the opinions of some transcendental philos- 
ophers and humanitarians among us to the contrary notwithstanding. 
As I said before a great guilt rests on somebody; and from what took 
place at Richmond, we should judge, neither the Government, nor 
Judge or Attorney representing it, nor Mr. Greeley, thought it 
rested on Jefferson Davis, as the Court and Attorney fixed the 
damage he had done at $100,000, and Horace Greeley was the 
first man to help share that by travelling all the way from New York 
uninvited for aught appears, and becoming his bail. What was the 
motive and feelings that prompted Mr. Greeley to do this? Was it 
a consciousness that he ought to share the penalties, or to ingra- 
tiate himself and paper with the "reconstructed ?" 

Why talk of Christian forgiveness over slayers of a million, and 
hang the young culprit in an adjoining County who has killed but one 
man ! 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

■ May 14, 1867. 



THE GETTERS UP OF THE " IRREPRESSIBLE CON- 
FLICT" — GREELEY AND HIS CRACK-BRAINED CO- 
WORKERS ON ONE SIDE, WITH DAVIS AND HIS 
BLUSTERING FIRE-EATERS ON THE OTHER. 

Editors Intelligencer : 

I observe in your paper to-day and the Pittsburgh papers, that the 

amount of Jeff. Davis 1 bail was fixed at $100,000 instead of $10,- 



334 



ooo, as stated in your paper of jesterday — given by twenty individ- 
uals in the sum of $5,000 each, and the first to sign was Horace 
Greeley. They becoming severally bound in $5,000 each, instead 
of jointly, as is usual in such ca^es, denotes that forfeiture on the 
part of the principal is anticipated, and the immediate departure of 
Davis and his family for Canada confirms it. He goes as his con- 
federate Vallandigham went, beyond our jurisdiction, out where he 
can observe daily the public sentiment, and intends to return and save 
his bail if no danger, otherwise suffer a forfeiture of his bond. This 
is unquestionably the plan. This farce concluded in Judge Under- 
wood's Court, Horace and Jefferson take their carriage and drive , 
for the Spotswood, amid the cheers of victorious not conquered 
rebels. 

What a denouement to the most stupendous farce the world ever 
witnessed — farce, nay, high tragedy, in which a million of our country- 
men of the North and South had given their lives to these Molochs, 
besides the sacrifice of six billion of treasure. 

Though overwhelmed with shame and sorrow, I am not astonished, 
-or even surprised. I have known the character of Greeley and his 
crack-brained votaries too long to be astonished or surprised even, 
at anything they might do, except it would be a truly patriotic, sensi- 
ble, or brave deed, and then I should be bound to attribute it to ac- 
cident, and not design. I need only to refer to their conduct during 
the preliminary war of words, their higher law and legislation, their 
irresolution and skulking when the clash of arms came, and the fatal 
.and suicidal measures proposed by Greeley and his like while the 
.terrible strife was raging — for the proof. They and their fiery co- 
workers in the South managed to bring on the war, but other minds 
and other hands had to conduct it upon both sides afterwards. The 
getters up on either side had no correct idea of what they were do- 
ing, or the consequences that were to follow, as events have clearly 
shown. They played away at each other unconcerned until the clash 
of arms came with unlooked for fury, when the greater part became 
frightened and skulked, and they seem still to regard it of not much 
consequence, except freeing the negroes ; and the great Constitution- 
al question which lies at the bottom of the whole, as not worthy a 
judicial settlement. 

Such is the character of the men who got up the war ; but it re- 
quired an entirely different element to conduct it to success on one 
side, and to sustain as wonderfully as they did the other. In this 



aoD 

same element now lies the practical sense, and bone and sinew of the 
nation, and who must now take the exclusive political control, as 
they did the military, if they expect safety and prosperity, and to 
reap the fruits due to their victory. 

The getters up on the fire-eaters' side are already effectually dis- 
posed of, but their counterpart on the Northern side as soon as the 
war and danger ceased, came out from their hiding places and claim- 
ed the honor of having" saved the Government, and abolished Slav- 
ery ! This they claim secures them immortal glory and reward, and 
entitles them to all the freed men's votes ; and many are now in the 
South under the protection of Federal bayonets — laboring to con- 
vince the freedmen that the past is even so. 

Now these crack-brained fellows of the Northern side deserve to 
be as effectually ostracised and put out of the way as their Southern 
co-workers have been. Nothing but that can save the country and 
keep it out of another collision of the same sort, and the true war 
party in the loyal States, with the aid of the true men in the South 
alone can do it. The crack-brained will remonstrate, for they claim 
to have been the chosen instruments of God, through which slavery 
has been abolished, and they lack the sense of propriety that induced 
Judas Iscariot to hang himself, after betraying his Divine Master by 
a similar appointment. If any one doubts this let him look at Judge 
Underwood's court, at the Judge, and what transpired there. The 
arch leader turned loose and J. C. Breckinridge, one Judge Thomas 
and other insignificant persons indicted for high treason, probably to 
offset Jeff.'s release, and perhaps act another farce. 

The law authorizes only a Federal court or Judge to take bail in 
capital cases, and makes it an express duty to inquire into the "na- 
ture and circumstances of the offense," and "of the evidence" and 
"the usages of law." There certainly can be no doubt about the 
offense Davis is guilty of, nor the evidence to prove it ; and by the 
general usages of law capital cases are not bailable under any cir- 
cumstances. In the case of the United States vs, Stewart, 2 Dall t 
345, the Supreme Court of the United States, with Jay at its 
head, lavs down this rule in cases of high treason. : "The circum- 
stances must be very strong 1 ' (showing innocence of course) "which 
will at any time induce a Court to admit a person to bail who stands- 
charged with high treason." Had Davis" case these circumstances, 
showing his innocence or mitigating his guilt ? Some think the Judge 
had warrant for bailing, in th's clause of the Federal Constitution ; 



336 

"that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to 
a speedy and public trial." Davis was arrested two years ago by the 
military power, at a cost of $100,000, and was held as a prisoner of 
war until delivered up by General Burton on Monday last. Cer 
tainly Judge Underwood could not have taken this two years hold- 
ing by the military to have been otherwise than right, and could re- 
gard the prisoner only in the same light as he would, if just arrested 
on that day by his Marshal, while at large. In the latter case, he 
would hardly have decided the clause above cited entitled him to 
bail. Where then was his authority to admit to bail ? 

Respectfully, 

G. P. 

May 1 6th, 1S67. 



THE PROPOSED RAILROAD AND THE WATER-LINE TO 
CONNECT THE OHIO RIVER WITH TIDE-WATER— 
THEIR PROBABLE COST AND ADVANTAGES COM- 
PARED. 
Editors Charleston Journal: 

The completion of one or the other of these works, or both, at as 
early a day as practicable, seems desirable to both the old State and 
the new. The actual results accomplished by the old State in her 
large expenditure of money heretofore, seemingly without sufficiently 
matured plans, or much regatd to economy, and the limited means of 
both States at the present time, ought, it seems to me, to dispose the 
people of both to make cool and careful examination of all the facts, 
and avail themselves of all experience, and then determine on the 
plan most likely to be accomplished, and set to work in earnest and 
accomplish it. Neither State is in a condition to try experiments or 
run after imaginary schemes. Facts, however distasteful, should gov- 
ern now. "First be sure we're right, then go ahead." 

The recent overture to our Commissioners by the Virginia Central 
Company, proposing to build the Covington and Ohio Kail road on 
certain conditions, ran not be regirded as binding on anybody, for 
want of that mutuality of obligation which is required u> constitute a 



\ 



o o 7 



binding contract. Let us, therefore, inquire whether it will really be 
to our advantage to consummate a contract with the Central Railroad 
Company. 

I have recently examined the material facts touching the two plans, 
as far as the means in my reach would allow, and am brought to the 
conclusion that the completion of the "water-line" up the Kanawha 
and New Rivers to the east boundary of our State, as the charter 
granted by our last Legislature provides, (with some few amendments 
to be made thereto,) is the true plan for our people to concentrate 
upon first. About ninety-six miles from the mouth of the Kanawha 
to the Falls can, with the means now at our command, be made as 
good and reliable a navigation as the Ohio river — and we need not 
aspire to a better. 

This will extend through by far the richest agricultural and mineral 
region, and unlock the whole to all the markets of the West and 
South ; and every dollar, if judiciously expended, must yield to the 
stockholders remunerative dividends. Sufficient capital for this pur- 
pose can be raised from our own people, and foreign capital that will 
be induced to come in. 

This accomplished, the improvement of the New River to our east 
line may be undertaken and proceeded with as fast as means will al- 
low, and all that rich and now locked-up portion of our Sta:e be- 
come, thereby, opened to the same markets. The accomplishment 
of this last will increase the revenue of existing stockholders by in - 
creasing the business, and appreciate probably rive -fold the value of 
all lands accessible above the Falls ; so the people of the adjacent 
Counties can well afford to issue county bonds to aid in the enter- 
prise, and individuals donate portions of their lands for the purpose. 
It will be for their interest to do so. And such a course cannot fail 
to induce foreign capitalists to come in and invest in lands and con- 
tribute any deficiency of means that may be required to complete the 
improvement. I was never upon New River, but understand from 
the charter granted by the Legislature last winter, that it is capable 
of permanent improvement to our east line at a cost not exceeding 
$3,000,000, including the whole extent from the mouth of the river. 
The extension of the water-line, in the manner stated, will bring that 
entire region, with its exhaustless mineral wealth, into communication 
by water carriage, (which admits of no competition in the carriage of 
raw material,) with nearly three quarters of the consumers of the 
country, without breaking bulk or transhipment : which consideration 
S2 



338 



alone would make our undertaking a perfectly safe and independent 
one. We should have within our own hands, all the while, the ready 
means, or that which would command therm. 

And while we are doing this, there can be no doubt but that the 
old State would extend her "water-line" from Buchanan, its present 
terminus, in Botetourt County, by canal through that rich County: 
along the vicinity of Fincastle and New Castle to Sinking Creek, and! 
down that creek and the New River to meet us at the line. From 
what I learn from geography and practical men, that route is practi- 
cable, and a natural supply of water can be obtained, and the "-sum- 
mit" level, which has so long been the subject of speculation, thereby 
avoided. It strikes me that the old State, in such a case, would have 
the strongest motive to push her improvement and connect with ours T 
if it be possible^ and she would be at the same time opening her 
rich territory to markets, and enhancing the business of the canaL 
And when the union should take place, might she not reasonably ex- 
pect some of the fruits, at least, which New York has realized from 
the raariiage of the waters of the great Lakes with the Hudson in 
1825 ? TMs grand result, it seems to me, is attainable by the two> 
States, by the means they now possess, if so managed and employed 
as to draw capital and capitalists to them, instead of begging, without 
success, for them to come and build the railroad. Besides, if this 
connection should fail, might we not expect that the Virginia and 
Tennessee Railroad Company would meet us at our line with a con- 
tinuation of the improvement of New River up to its road near 
Newbern ? 

The water-line once completed, at an inconsiderable cost compared 
with what it would cost to complete the railroad line, the latter will 
soon follow, as an incident — as has been the case in New York and 
Pennsylvania — be built by the new interests and wants which the 
water-line would create. 

Are there, then, the certain, manifest -.advantages in the railroad 
line proposed, as things now stand, without the aid of the water, line, 
— even if the old State and private owners should donate the Central 
and Blue Ridge roads — to induce mere capitalists to expend the 
amount required ? I deem the estimates of the cost, as published by 
the Commissioners, entirely too low. To construct and equip the 
Covington and Ohio road, and repair, equip and pay off the debts of 
the other two, would cost from fifteen to twenty million dollars, and 
with a single track merely. Mr. Gwynn,. late Chief Engineer of the 



339 



James River and Kanawha Company, estimated in 1852 the cost of 
■constructing the Covington and Ohio road from Covington to Loup 
Creek Shoals, a distance of 138 miles, at $70,000 per mile, amount- 
ing to $9,681,000, It will now cost about one-third more — making 
$14,521,500, from which deduct the two-and-a-half millions expended 
•.since in and about the tunnel, leaving $12,02 ¥,500. In the recent 
overture with our Commissioners, it is proposed to accomplish this 
work with $5,000,000. Mr. Gwynn bases his estimate 011 the actual 
cost of roads through a similar country, and shows that the mere 
speculative estimates of engineers, without reference to actual facts, 
are not at all to be relied on in these matters ; and instances the esti- 
mated cost of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from Baltimore to 
Cumberland, to have been $4,528,693, when the actual cost was 
$9,662,374 ; the Hudson River Railroad at $6,000,000, when it actu- 
ally cost $14,000,000, and so generally. [See the 17th Annual Re- 
port of President to stockholders of the James River and Kanawha 
Company, 1852, pages 376-380, &c, where the subject is very ably 
and thoroughly discussed.] 

Now we all know there is not local capital to accomplish such a 
work, nor am I able to see any present inducement for capitalists of 
other States to invest. The great bulk of travel is always found to 
follow the freight. They go where their produce and business lead ; 
and while their produce shall go to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New 
York, the owners will not travel a long distance round to reach either 
of these cities, for the sake merely of riding on our road, if built, 
and looking at Richmond. Their products must be brought down to 
Richmond and Norfolk, and sold there ; and then the owners will 
follow, and capitalists will build a railroad for them, or they will build 
it for themselves, aided by the accumulating merchants and capitalists 
and growing cities, at the tide-water. 

But many, and among them our Commissioners, appear to think 
that our line of railroad, if completed, will possess such decided ad- 
vantages over the present existing roads., for carrying passengers and 
for delivering the products of the West at tide-water, as will divert 
the freight from its present channels, and turn it to Newport News 
and Norfolk, and can there seasonably furnish, and receive and dis- 
tribute, the cargoes of ocean-going ships, (which cannot go up to 
Richmond,) and thereby induce capitalists and merchants there. 
Nothing short of a large and palpable advantage will ever effect this 
to much extent. The Virginia and Tennessee and Petersburg and 



340 



Norfolk Railroads have not, as ye me much for Norfolk; and as 
for Richmond, she is t > far inland ever to be much affected, except 
by manufactures. The friends of the railroad instance the freedom 
from ice and blocking snows ; the light grades and diminished dis- 
tance. These would, all have weight if true, but only the former is 
true, and which to the water-line is of vast importance. While they 
instance the Covington road as of much lighter grade going East — 
which is true — they are silent as to the other portion of the line east 
of Covington, which has ascents as high as 75 feet to the mile going 
one way, and 83 the other — on the Virginia Central. [See Report 
Board of Public Works for 1858, page 142.] So there will not be any 
ge in grade in our favor when taking the whole line 
And instead of making the distance shorter, the Commis- 
sioners make, in fact, the distance from the mouth of the Kanawha 
river — to which point the overture mentioned and resolutions you 
published contemplate it to extend — to Norfolk, 117 miles more than 
the distance frcm Wheeling to Baltimore by the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad; 113 miles more than from Parkersburg to Baltimore; and 
144 miles more than from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia by the Pennsyl- 
vania Central. In making their calculation, it should be observed, 
the Commissioners start at the great falls of the Kanawha, 96 miles 
from its mouth, to which point they assume the river is to be improved 
by permanent navigation. 

Now I submit there is nothing here that is going to divert the great 
staples of the West from their present established routes, and turn 
them to our road, if built ; and this capitalists see. Nor would it pay 
to ship coal from the Kanawha coal fields to Richmond by the road, 
if built. The distance is about 355 miles from Coalburg, at the 
mouth of Cabin creek. The freight on a ton of coal per mile charg- 
ed by the Virginia Central Railroad in 1858 was three and a half 
cents, (see Report Board of Public Works for that year, page 145) — 
which would make the freight to Richmond, 355 miles, $12.02 per 
ton, and about 13 cents per bushel. It is fair to presume this was as 
cheap as that road could carry it for then, and perhaps ever can. 
And so it would be with the great majority of our products. The 
freight on wheat was put at five and six-tenths cents per ton per mile, 
a ton being about 33 and one-third bushels ; and freight on a bushel 
from the mouth of Kanawha to Richmond — a distance of 432 miles 
— would be about 73 cents. 

The actual cost of transportation, including tolls, on the Erie canal 



341 



in 1850, before its enlargement, and when its capacity and size of 
boats were about the same as the James River canal, was one and 
one-half cents per ton per mile ; at which rate the transportation, 
including tolls, of a ton of coal from Coalburg to Richmond would 
be $5.53 ', and of a bushel of wheat from Point Pleasant to Rich- 
mond 16 and three-fourths cents. The aggregate amount of freight 
that passed the Erie canal in 1850 was 2,033,863 tons. Mr. Gwynn 
estimated the capacity of the James River canal would allow, in 
1852, the passage of 2,920,680 tons per annum, which he says it 
would require six double track railroads to perform. 

In view, then, of existing facts and dear-bought experience, is it 
not wise for the people of both States to cease such overtures as 
took place at Richmond, and the people of each State, independently 
of the other, to push its respective portion of the "water-line" to 
completion and connection, with all the means and vigor each can 
command ? 

I was mainly induced to make the statements I have, by the pub- 
lished call of our Commissioners for our people to put in their money 
with the bonds of their respective Counties to construct the railroad 
on the terms and conditions expressed in the resolutions you pub- 
lished and the overture mentioned. I have endeavored to show that 
our best plan is to build a water-line. But if the railroad is to be 
built, I am in favor of putting it into other hands. I shall show here- 
after why we should not contract with the Central Company. 

How would our people in the Kanawha Valley like to be taxed to 
pay their County bonds, issued to enable the Virginia Central Rail- 
road Company to begin at Covington and construct and equip the 
road westward, so as to draw and secure all the trade to Richmond, 
and further alienate the now unreconciled feelings of that section 
from the new State during the six years they would consume in reach- 
ing, if they should get money, our present steamboat navigation on 
the Kanawha? The Virginia Central Railroad Company would cer- 
tainly have the controlling power, and could begin where and pro- 
ceed with the work as that Company should choose ; and there can 
be no doubt it would be as I have stated; and our people of the 
lower Counties while paying their money to aid the Virginia Central, 
(for that Company is to have all its earnings till the head of naviga- 
tion is reached) would have to be content with their present navigation 
and outlet, as they would have no means left to put into that improve- 
ment. 



342 



1 submit, no political consideration, except to advance the interest 
and harmonize the feelings of our own people, should enter into this 
great question. 

Respectfully, 

G. P. 

June 17, 1867. 



THE COVINGTON AND OHIO RAILROAD— CAN THE 

VIRGINIA CENTRAL BUILD IT ? 
Editors Charleston Journal : 

I have already endeavored to show that a "water-line" will be a 
■safer investment to your citizens who wish to witness the develop- 
ment of the great resources of the great Kanawha Valley. But if 
we shall undertake this great work, we should certainly so place its 
management that we shall not lose all. Let us inquire into the con- 
dition of the Company which has made the proposition to take the 
management of the construction of this road, provided "not less 
than $5,000,000 stock is subscribed" by outside parties. 

The Virginia Central Railroad Company does not seem to be in a 
flourishing condition. A select Committee, appointed by the Legis- 
lature of the old State in 1859-60, to inquire into and report the 
condition of the State's Internal Improvements, speaks thus of the 
Virginia Central Railroad: "The Virginia Central, including the 
Blue Ridge Railroad, is 207 miles long — 9 miles of which are un- 
finished. 

"It paid into the Treasury during the last fiscal year, $84,354,22, 
and promises to do as well i?i future. The Richmond, Petersburg 
and Potomac Railroad Company have recently obtained a decree in 
the Court of Appeals against the Central Railroad Company, for an 
account in which a large sum of money is involved, and may be re- 
covered, which will embarrass the road to some extent. The amount 
necessary to finish the nine miles yet to be made is $600,000." See 
Report of Select Committee, page 7. 

The State's stock, including the Blue Ridge, was at that time 
$3,483,209,23. See 4th page of same Report. Upon this stock the 
$84,354,22 received by the old State that year would be a little rising 
two per cent. 



343 



There were in the Fall of 1858 three mortgages on all this Com- 
pany's property for $1,269,500 — one falling due in 1872, one in 18&0, 
and the other in 1884, with interest payable semi-annually. These 
mortgages are undischarged, and I presume the interest accruing 
since the war commenced, is in arrear ; and is, I presume, what 
makes up the sum of $1,880,622,23, which the address states to be 
due from the Company to individuals. See Report of Board of 
Public Works for 1858, page 113. 

Now the mere guaranty of a Company so situated, of four per 
cent, semi-annual dividends after the entire Covington and Ohio 
Railroad shall be completed, cannot, it seems to me, induce capital- 
ists to invest. The holders of the mortgages can advertise and sell 
the whole at any time for the interest in arrear ; and what then would 
the corporation's guaranty be good for ? Such guaranty can only 
operate to postpone the dividends accruing on the present stock 
after the entire road is completed, until the new subscribers shall get 
their eight per cent. Besides, as soon as new subscribers shall have 
put in their money, and constructed and equipped the Covington 
Road to steamboat navigation on the Kanawha, then the new Com- 
pany — a majority of whose stockholders will be the holders of the 
present stock in the Central Road — is to have the power to mortgage 
the whole, including the Central Road, to raise money to finish the 
Covington and Ohio Road to the Ohio river. Would not such a 
mortgage have a preference over the eight per cent, preferred stock 
to be issued and guaranteed as before stated ? 

If, then, our Commissioners have really made the contract which 
they say they have, they have parted with the invaluable key W T est 
Virginia acquired by her separation, without any compensation what- 
ever, it strikes me, and placed this great work of West Virginia — 
self-constructing, from its own intrinsic merits, if wisely managed — - 
back under the absolute control of those whose former policy was to 
cramp and cripple it, and who now constitute a crippled corporation. 

But the resolutions passed at a meeting of the stockholders of the 
Virginia Central Railroad, held at Richmond on the 23d of May, and 
published in your paper of the 5th ult., give a different phase to the 
transaction. The first resolution reads thus : ''That it is inexpedient 
for this Company to undertake to construct the Covington and Ohio 
Railroad on borrowed capital." Here, then, one would suppose was- 
an end of the matter as far as our Commissioners were concerned. 



344 



That Company in effect said frankly that it had no money with which 
to do the work, and would not undertake to raise it. 

But by subsequent resolutions they authorize their Board to offer 
the following terms and conditions to the Commissioners for a con- 
tract to construct the Covington and Ohio Railroad : 

"ist. That if sufficient money (not less than $5,000,000) to com- 
plete and equip the road from Covington to steamboat navigation 011 
the Kanawha be not raised in cash, or subscription as good as cash, 
within six months from date of contract, that their Company shall be 
released from the contract if they desire it." This is certainly not 
an undertaking or contract on their part to build the road. It con- 
templates that other parties, and not their Company, are to procure 
the subscription and raise the money, while their Company is to stand 
still, with the right to reject or accept it. A very dignified position, 
indeed, to assume ! 

"2d. In case they shall accept, the Central Virginia Railroad will 
guarantee to those who subscribe and pay, semi-annual dividends of 
four per cent, after the whole road is finished and equipped to the 
Ohio river." 

"3d. That in such case the net revenue from the Covington and 
Ohio Railroad, while building shall be kept for that purpose." This 
is generous indeed — to consent that the builders may set apart the 
net income of their own money ! 

"4th. But no part of the earnings of the Virginia Central Road 
shall be diverted, held, kept, or used for constructing the Covington 
and Ohio Railroad, before the same shall be completed and equipped 
to the Ohio river" — by others money, of course, is meant. 

"5th. That no mortgage shall be put upon the Virginia Central 
Road to raise means to build or equip the Covington and Ohio, until 
the latter shall have been built and equipped to the head of steam- 
boat navigation on the Kanawha." 

"6th. If from any cause the work on the Covington and Ohio 
Railroad shall become forfeited, the parties who shall have subscrib- 
ed to build the same shall forfeit their stock, and shall have no in- 
terest or voice in the Virginia Central Company." As our Legisla- 
ture reserved no power to resume, in case of failure to perform the 
work, that, together with the franchise, is to pass, in that case, 1 
suppose, to the Virginia Central, which, by that time, will have 



345 



changed its name and become the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad 
Company. 

"7th, The President and Directors arc authorized to employ such 
agencies as they may deem proper to carry out the objects of the 
foregoing resolutions." 

Here we have, then, exactly what the Virginia Central Railroad 
has done. The agents, their President and Directors, appointed 
afterwards to carry out these resolutions, had no power or authority 
to vary from them. Do they amount to an undertaking or contract 
on the part of the Virginia Central Railroad to construct the Cov- 
ington and Ohio Railroad ? If not, then I submit, our people are in 
no wise bound by the arrangement purporting to have been entered 
into by our Commissioners. One thing is certain, our people could 
never have completed such an arrangement, nor is there anything in. 
the too loose and unguarded act of our last Legislature to warrant 
it, it seems to me. 

As I have stated on a former occasion, J. again repeat, that the 
true policy of our people is to hold fast to the invaluable key which 
our separation and geographical position has placed in our hands ; 
and we cannot fail, in a short time and by reasonable efforts, to in- 
duce solid capitalists to build the Covington and Ohio Railroad, 
which is, of necessity, to constitute the mam artery that can alone 
supply and give remunerative life to the various languishing and di- 
lapidated lines of the road East of the Alleghanies : as well as to 
old Virginia herself. All that is required is to construct our main 
artery from the Ohio river to our East line, and then the Virginia and 
Tennessee, the Virginia Central, and the Baltimore and Ohio, 
stretching up the valley of the Shenandoah, with the Orange and 
Alexandria Railroad Company, will all be in hot liable to connect 
with us. 

Where is the sense, then, of surrendering all to the insolvent 
Central, which has no means to aid or help ; but, as its resolutions 
disclose, expects to ride, excluding all <Gtkcrs, and at the same time 
dominate over us. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

July 7, 1867. 

The p'ridiakfti that the Cov'inglmi and Ohio Railroad, so import 
J 2 



346 

ant a trunk or stem, was self-building, was realized within a year or 
two after. Capitalists of New York, including Messrs. Huntington, 
Aspinwall, Low, and others, undertook its construction — asking no- 
local or other aid. They completed it, and il has been in successful 
operation (being consolidated with the Virginia Central, forming the* 
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad) now for near three years. 

The importance to the Nation of the early completion of the con- 
templated water-line induced the last Congress to appropriate $300,- 
000 to make a beginning on the Kanawha River, or* the strength of 
previous Reports of Government Engineers. It is believed the 
National Government will complete this water-line at no distant day- 
The producers of the West, and consumers of the East, including 
New England, will demand it, as the only effectual relief against 
Railroad monopoly and extortion. 



^AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OF WEST VIRGINIA. 
Edilar Welhburg Herald : 

A supposed deficiency of proper roea'DS to advance Agriculture 
and the Mechanic Arts in the country, with some knowledge of Mili- 
tary tactics, was what Congress undertook to supply to our young 
men by act of July 2d, 1862, and to secure the faithful application of 
its bounty to the object by absolute forfeiture. No intelligent per- 
son, I think, who has read the Act, will undertake to* deny that such 
was its object^ or that any State that has accepted the bounty, has 
received and holds it subject to the conditions and restrictions im- 
posed, and that a failure in any substantial part will work a forfeit- 
ure. Whether such deficiency existed in fact, or whether the means- 
prescribed are the best to supply the want, are not open questions 
with the donees that have accepted. 

But how is it in fact t Was Congress wrong in supposing the defi- 
ciency to exist, or in the choice of means to remedy it ? The bill 
was drawn and introduced in the Senate May 5th, 1862, by Senator 
Wade, of Ohio, read twice and referred to the Committee on Public: 



*Name since changed to West Virginia University, 



347 



Lands, and ordered to be printed — which Committee reported back 
the bill with certain amendments, and a very long and elaborate de- 
bate ensued, in which the leading men of that body from all parts of 
the loyal States participated, and after further amendments it passed 
that body June nth, following, by a vote of 32 to 7 ; and the 19th 
of the same month, it passed the House, without further amendment, 
by a vote of 90 to 25, and received the approval of President Lin- 
coln. Now, as Chief Justice Marshall once said to a young 
lawyer who assumed 2 monopoly of legal knowledge before his Court, 
that "the Court should be presumed to know something? I would 
with due deference to the Faculty and visitors of "The West Virginia 
College'' say that this body of men from all parts of the loyal States 
should be presumed to have known something of the subject they 
were so long engaged upon — of the deficiency and proper means to 
remedy it Besides, every one knows that until within a few years 
the subjects of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts formed no 
speciality* and had no special Professorships in any of our numerous 
Colleges which oversowed the country with what are termed "liber- 
ally educated" young men, destined usually for some one of the 
learned professions — so called ; and indeed it was thought presump- 
tion to aspire to any of these professions without a diploma from 
some College. Times change, and experience has taught the world 
that neither Universities nor ordinary Colleges with their "curricula" 
can impart brains or heart, though they may aid both where they ex- 
ist, and are not therefore indispensable or even necessary, to the 
highest intellectual attainments and most exalted virtues, though the 
persons may be deficient in the dead languages, and it should seem 
absurd to Professor Martin to call them "educated men." 

This most salutary and growing experience taught men to believe 
that the successful practice of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, 
in which more than, eight tenths of our whole population were en- 
gaged, and which alone produced national wealth and greatness, 
might be aided and promoted by instructing the minds of those en- 
gaged, in a knowledge of the invariable laws of the Creator which 
form the science, and lie at the bottom of theirs as every other pro- 
cess or art, and on a strict observance of which their success equally 
depended ; and hence Agricultural Professorships were established 
through individual munificence in Harvard University and some few 
Colleges in the country. To say that these two branches, Agriculture 
and Mechanics — in the practice of which so large a proportion of our 



348 



people are engaged, and on which the nation rests and derives all its 
wealth and sustenance of every kind, are too narrow or insignificant 
to form the foundation of a Coliege or its principal and "leading ob- 
ject" and specialty — -when the secondary and incidental business of 
Commerce has its Commercial Colleges, and Physicians, Theologians- 
and Lawyers and many other classes engaged in one pursuit have 
their respective Colleges, throughout this and the old country, would 
be strange indeed. No mind unless shrouded in the narrow and sel - 
. lice of the past, and altogether uninfluenced by the 
mc enlarged ideas of the present, can harbor such a 
for a moment. 

I will now briefly suggest the mode in which, it seems to me, West 
Virginia can best apply the bounty she has received so as to con- 
form to the expressed wishes of the donors, and be of the greatest 
advantage to the intended beneficiaries, viz : our young men who in- 
tend to practice some branch of Agriculture or the Mechanic Arts. 
First : To establish two Professorships, the one Agricultural, the other 
Mechanical — connecting with each, all studies germane and naturally 
"related then employ for each Professorship one of the best men 
in the country, eminently qualified by natural ability as well as learn- 
ing and experience, general and special, thoroughly acquainted with 
the world and with men and boys who soon become men — with the 
tact and power to interest, awaken, instruct, control and enthuse 
young men. The interest of the $9.0,000 would command and sup- 
port such Professors and pay a regular army officer for giving to each 
class some knowledge in Military tactics, which need not require 
more than two or three months in a year. Let a judiciously selected 
library be provided, and then invite the youth of the State who have 
acquired a good English education in the Free Schools at home or 
elsewhere, and who intend to practice some branch of Agriculture or 
the Mechanic Arts — to spend one year under the instruction of these 
Professors and then let them return home and give place to another 
class of three, four or five hundred — as these numbers can be as 
easily lectured to, at one time, as can fifty — and so continue to rotate 
■ — the students to pay their expenses except the tuition which the 
bounties are to furnish. 

Now what would be the natural results of such course ? First, it 
would bring annually this number of that , class of young men, pos- 
sessed of good English education acquired at home, and immediately 
before their assuming the responsibilities and duties of manhood— 



349 



into immediate contact with these Professors, with each other, and 
with a well selected library. Need the result be explained ? Every 
true man already sees and feels it. What is in them, such Professors 
would awaken and draw out — carry them aloft and show them the 
whole field of knowledge — accessible to and attainable by all. In- 
struct them in the necessary sciences, introduce them to that perfect 
system of unvarying laws which a beneficent Creator has given to 
guide them in what becomes a pleasant and ennobling calling — as 
well as eminently useful and profitable. To these youth Agriculture 
and the Mechanic Arts will appear as they appeared to Cincinnatus 
and Archimedes, to Washington and Franklin, and their thirst for 
knowledge once awakened by a true master's touch, will never cloy 
or tire. They will be made acquainted with books and will ever after 
purchase and read them, as well as observe, experiment and prac- 
tice. When they return to their farms and workshops they will be 
men worthy their country and age. Nor need I mention the interest 
and enthusiasm these returning classes would be certain to create 
among the uninitiated at home, and the effect of their presence and 
relation of their experience would produce. This would be some- 
thing more than a ''manual labor school" and make them something 
more than "Farmers and Soldiers " Nor is this fancy. The means 
applied in the manner suggested will produce the result. But the 
indispensable thing is to have live, inspiring and large calibred men 
at the head as Professors. 

The comparatively few youth that may desire to take the ordinary 
College course and obtain Diplomas can take it, with or without the 
years discipline, at the Agricultural College, in their own State, at 
Bethany College, or in Washington College, in a County adjoining 
Monongalia, both fully established and enjoying a high reputation, at 
a much less expense than our Faculty and Visitors propose in their 
circular to furnish it, with the aid of the bounty they hold. They 
exact $96 tuition for their four years collegiate course, when the tui- 
tion for a like course can be realized by purchase of scholarships in 
the Washington College with its superior advantages for $35. A 
gentleman of Wellsburg purchased a four years scholarship for that 
sum for one of his sons, not long since. And as for board, it can 
be furnished in either of these Colleges, certainly, for $3,50 per 
week, exclusive of washing and lights, which is the amount our Fac- 
ulty and Visitors propose to charge. At the rate proposed in their 
circular the whole expense of a course will amount to at least $800, 



350 



exclusive of clothing and other expenses, and with the two years in 
the Preparatory department will be increased nearly one-half — mak- 
ing about $1500 for the six years, with the bounty thrown in; 
and the College to accommodate about at a time. 

Now what is this to do towards enlightening and quickening the 
masses of our long neglected and comparatively uneducated people ? 
Hardly a taper in a cloudy midnight ! It is utterly above, and be- 
yond the reach and pecuniary ability of the mass of our people. 
How many of our young farmers and mechanics can afford the ex- 
pense ? Not one in a thousand ; while the privilege I have taken 
the liberty to suggest, will be within the reach of all who may desire 
to avail themselves of it. But it is proposed to educate at the States 
expense two from each Senatorial District, making twenty-two, to be 
called Cadets, and who are to guard the College property. Guard 
it against whom ? Ten times that number of Cadets could never 
have prevented "ring" depredations upon the Hospital or Penitentiary; 
neither can they this College, from the only foe really to be feared. 
Besides the selection will be made generally from motives of favorit- 
ism and accidental circumstances, and not from true merit; and 
beget jealousies, animosities and dissatisfaction among the people, 
and be in the main productive of more evil than good. The time, I 
trust and hope, may come when it may be proper and expedient for 
West Virginia to establish for herself a College, and perhaps, Uni- 
versity, in some respects resembling the plan now proposed — not a 
premature, abortive, languishing, inflated thing, as the one now pro- 
posed must for a long time at least, be, but one that shall spring 
naturally from the exigencies of the State, and become the same, 
and be liberally supported by a prepared and competent people. But 
it seems to me as unwise, unfit and unbecoming at this time, as it 
would be for a young farmer or mechanic to expend the small means 
he has laid by for acquiring an outfit in life, in the purchase of a 
"coach and six," or a $20,000 mansion. Is it wise for our people 
longer to ignore that inexorable law, that everything must "creep be- 
fore it can walk ;" that great and worthy ends are attained only by 
patient, gradual growth, from small beginnings, acting all the while in 
accordance with, and not against this law. Other States, that the 
people of our infant ,State are now assuming to measure themselves 
with, have spent scores of years, and some, centuries, in patient ef- 
fort to attain what we are vainly endeavoring to attain by spasmodic 
leaps, or by those efforts of the over ambitious frog which ended in 



351 



self-explosion. A Hospital lo cost a million, ahead)' disintegrating 
on account of its moral and physical abnormities ; a Penitentiary with 
a plan for four hundred and eighty cells— four times more space than 
any other people in the country, of the number of ours, require. 
Does the interest of the State require another, which can be gained 
only through a forfeiture and loss of the Nation's bounty ? 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

August 20th, 1867. 



AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 
Editor of Wheeling Register : 

I perceive by the Act of Congress passed July 4th, 1866, entitled 
"An Act concerning certain lands granted to the State of Nevada," 
that that body has by necessary implication already declared that 
any application of the proceeds to any other subject than the teach- 
ing of "agriculture and the mechanic arts" without its consent, shall 
work a forfeiture. Section 3d of that act reads as follows : "That 
the grant made by law the 2nd day of July, 1863, to each State, of 
land equal to 30,000 acres for each of its Senators and Representa- 
tives in Congress, shall extend to the State of Nevada, and that the 
diversion of the proceeds of these lands in Nevada from the teach- 
ing of agriculture and the mechanic arts to that of the theory and 
practice of mining is allowed and authorized without causing a 
forfeiture of the grant. " 

This is equivalent to saying that if such diversion should be made 
without its consent, it would work a forfeiture ; and makes it clear 
that, without its consent, a failure in any respect to make "agricul- 
ture and the mechanic arts" the "leading object" of the College, 
will work a forfeiture of the grant. Do the Managers and Faculty 
in our case expect, or have they already, the promise of our Senators 
and Representatives to obtain the consent of Congress to such a 
perversion as they have attempted ? I think our farmers and me- 
chanics at least, will have a word to say on that subject. 

Very Respectfully 3 

G. P. 

September 7, <86y. 



352 



[No. i. ] 

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT— WHAT IS IT? 
Editors Wheeling Register : 

When lust for power with personal hatred, has become the ruling 
motive of those whom we have entrusted with the powers of any of 
the great Departments of our National Government, it is well for us 
to refer back and ascertain clearly what was the plan or theory in- 
tended by the great Founders, to the end that we may be better pre- 
pared to act understandingly in any emergency that may arise. 

The System of Civil Polity the fathers established, consists of dis- 
tinct governments, the several State and National Governments, . pe- 
culiarly and indissolutely (save by accomplished Revolution) united. 
These are all Constitutional representative Republics, or Democra- 
cies, as all power emanates from the People. 

In all political and civil associations worthy the name of Govern- 
ment, there have been three great departments— the Legislative, 
which makes the laws ; the Executive, which carries them into opera- 
tion ; and the Judicial, which expounds and applies them to cases as 
they arise, in a manner to advance and protect right, and repress and 
punish wrong. The powers of these three departments united, con- 
stitute the governing power of a State, which is the source of all 
legitimate authority, and head to which such authority is amenable, 
and by which it can be regulated or resumed. For many centuries 
before our fathers' experiment, the sovereign power had been lodged 
in one person, with none, or varying limitations, styled King or Em- 
peror. Being only a man, and subject to the selfish passions of the 
race, he too often used the immense powers for selfish ends, to the 
great detriment and oppression of his subjects. This experience 
prompted our fathers when they undertook to erect governments in 
the woods, as it were, where the way was clear, after displacing the 
British authority, to adopt a new mode of structure, and our present 
system of civil polity is the result. Their plan was to reverse the 
location of the sovereign power, which had to rest somewhere, and 
instead of vesting it in one man, to retain it in the body of the pco- 



353 



pie, of whom the Cramers were to be a part, and execute its powers 
and functions through agents, with written Constitutions for their 
guidance, and thus avoid the great expense and oppression attend- 
ant on Kings and Emperors, with their Thrones and Courts. It was 
a bold experiment to be attempted in the woods even, and required 
men that feared God, that had subdued a wilderness in part, a savage 
race, and dared then and ever after to defy the strongest nation on 
earth, to do it. The theory, plan or ideal of our fathers has now 
stood the practbal test of nearly a century, with no other change 
than the plan itself provided for, and with results that astonish the 
world. 

We live in a world where everything is subject to unvarying laws, 
which we call the divine will. These laws in themselves are not sub- 
jects of sense, but are manifested to us only through their physical ex- 
pression in natural phenomena and divine revelation. These divine 
laws are self- existent, and in no sense dependant upon physical expres- 
sion, which is only their effect, Fvery human enterprise, whether 
of government or other thing, must conform to these divine laws in 
order to be successful. Hence correct theory, plan or ideal, must 
precede successful practice, otherwise the practice must be blind, 
labor in the dark, and efforts made at random. Hence good gov- 
ernment presupposes the prior existence of correct theory, plan or 
ideal, which is self-existent, and independent of physical embodiment, 
and manifestation. True Christianity is such a theory, physically 
manifested by the New Testament and its good effects on those who 
practice it. The system of Civil Polity of Ancient Rome still exists, 
and is manifested to us by its records, laws, &c, though the Roman 
people that practiced and gave it physical expression disappeared 
centuries ago, and their system was displaced or more or less mod- 
ified by their conquerors, through accomplished revolution. So the 
Feudal system of the middle ages, though nearly obsolete in practice, 
still exists and is evidenced to us by the writings of Littleton, Coke, 
Blackstone, &c. ; and so the system of Civil Polity inaugurated by 
our Fathers still exists, except so far as it has been modified by legit- 
imate amendments, (for no accomplished revolution has displaced it 
in any part) and is evidenced to us by our written Constitutions and 
laws made in pursuance thereof. People are necessary to give the 
system, or any department, as a State, physical expression and prac- 
tical results, but not necessary to its existence. This can only be 
displaced by legitimate amendments of the system, or by accomplish- 
U2 



ed revolution. An unsuccessful attempt at revolution in whole or in 
part cannot displace it to any extent. It may change the practical 
working of the system for a time, until the disturbing element is re- 
moved, but not the system itself, which remains the same. The? 
People that are required to give physical expression are all the time 
changing. Three generations have come and gone already since our 
system was inaugurated. 

If all the people now living in Rhode Island should leave thar 
State to-morrow, or should make an unsuccessful attempt, as Dork 
and his party did some years since, to change by force that depart- 
ment of our national polity, it would not affect it. The system would 
none the less consist of thirty-seven States 7 though in one 7 its prac- 
tical working was temporarily suspended, or inharmorsiously worked- 
Any other theory would necessarily subject the whole to the absolute: 
control of its constituent parts — the Nation, to its thirty seven con- 
stituent departments' — to be destroyed by piecemeal ; which would 
be far more disastrous than to let erring and discontented sisters de- 
part in peace r without first obliging them to commit voluntary suicide- 
Our system of civil polity makes the very existence of the National 
Government depend on the continued' existence and perpetuity of 
the State Governments. Destroy the latter, and how can a National 
Senate be chosen, where there are no State Legislatures I How car* 
a National House of Representatives be elected,, or President, or 
Vice President, without the co-operation of State Governments? 
How can Judges of the National Courts be appointed, where' Bhere 
is no President to nominate and commission, or Senate to confirm I 
If it be admitted that one, or ten States can destroy themselves by 
unsuccessful attempts by their People at devolution— then all can, 
or enough to stop the National Government altogether — and what 
authority is there then, to take charge of the Territory, which the 
States and Nation now cover ? Who can make and enforce laws to» 
govern it ? Who- — assent, and admit new States into a Union 
that has, ceased to exist ? The doctrine that unsuccessful attempts 
at revolution can destroy any of our State Governments,, ©r impair 
their organic structures, is worse in practical results, by far, than the 
doctrine of peaceable secession, and ten times more absurd, The 
chastisement of the inanimate abstraction of State organism, by 
attempting their destruction for wrongs men have done through or 
under them, is like a man's destroying an apartment of his own 
house, in order to punish the person that had attempted to rob it : 



35f) 



or the Connecticut Puritan, who whipped his beer barrel because 
the beer that was in it continued to work on Sunday. 



OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT— WHAT IS it? 
'Editors Wheeling Register ^ 

I attempted in a former article to show that cur system of Civil 
Polity consisted of the theory, plan, or ideal, which the Fathers con- 
ceived and evidenced to us by the Constitution they established ; 
that this system is self-existent, and not dependent for its existence, 
but only for physical expression and practical results, on the People, 
who are constantly changing, and that this system can only be dis- 
placed, modified, or impaired Joy amendments of the Constitution in 
the modes pointed out, or by success/id and aecftnplhlied Revolution — 
the right of which our Fathers admitted to exist, and its exercise 
justifiable in extreme cases. I will now attempt to give an outline of 
the system of Civil Polity that they established. 

Prior to July 4th, 1776, the thirteen Colonies, -though separate, 
were united by a common allegiance to the British Crown. That on 
that day they unitedly declared their Independence to sustain which, 
they conducted to complete success, the most unequal war ever 
known. Immediately after the Declaration these Colonies assumed 
for themselves the dignity and character of sovereign States, and the 
people of nearly all formed for themselves respectively. State Con- 
stitutions : and in them, while the terrible and unequal war was rag- 
ing — laid the foundations of our present polity. They placed 
the sovereign power, which in the mother Stale was vested in the 
King, in their respective peoples, who were to execute the same 
through agents whom they periodically elected or appointed, made 
responsible to the people and who were sworn to obey and conform 
to the respective State Constitutions, which provided for the three 
great departments of Government: Legislative, Executive and Ju- 
dicial, carefully defining the duties and powers of each, and in many 
instances expressly forbidding any interference with each other in 
•the discharge of their respective duties. The Legislative was to 



Very Re sp ectf ul ly, 



G. P. 



January 29, iS&S. 




356 

confine itself to making the laws ; the Executive, who was made 
Commander-in-Chief of the army, to carrying the laws into execution; 
and the Judicial to interpreting and applying the same to cases as 
they should arise. In 1777 tne thirteen States, through their Legis- 
latures, entered into a compact, which they called "Articles of Con- 
federation." This was a compact or league between the several 
sovereign States, to which the States in their corporate capacity were 
the parties, and not their respective peoples who held the sovereign 
power. These articles provided for no Federal Executive, nor 
Judiciary department, but only a Legislature, called the Congress, 
constituted of delegates appointed by the Legislatures of the States. 
This Congress was empowered to pass laws, but it had no Federal 
Executive to enforce them after they were passed, nor Federal Courts 
to expound and apply them. All that Congress could do, was to 
entreat the respective sovereign States to make their respective peo- 
ples obey them. While the war lasted and the outside pressure was 
strong, the authorities of the States generally complied ; but when 
peace came in 1783, and the outside pressure was removed, many of 
the States declined, and the Congress became remediless — unless it 
could persuade the complying States to compel those that were re- 
cusant, by declaring war against them. A more deplorable state of 
things cannot be imagined. No taxes could be raised to pay the 
heavy debt, or interest, or even the current expenses of the Congress. 
It was "a rope of sand," in truth. 

Thus circumstanced, the great men who had carried through the 
unequal war, aroused themselves to make secure the precious boon 
they had purchased at so great sacrifice, met in Convention in Phil- 
adelphia, and with George Washington in the Chair, devised and 
put in form our present National Constitution. It describes the 
parties whose work it was to be thus : "We, the people of the 
United States, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United 
States of America," and when the draft was completed it was sub- 
mitted to the people convened in their respective States to sign or 
ratify; and provided when ratified by the people of nine of the 
thirteen States, it should be binding to that extent, and might be put 
in operation, which was done in 1789, and the other States ratified 
after. Article 6, Section 2nd, declares, "that the Constitution and 
Laws of the United States made in pursuance thereof, treaties, &c, 
shall be the Supreme Law of the Land, and the Judges of every 
State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws 



thereof to the contrary notwithstanding." Article 9, amendment, 
reads thus : "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights 
shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the 
People." Article 10, amendment, reads thus : "The powers not 
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by 
it to the States are reserved to the States respectively, or to the 
People." 

These are the clauses showing that it was the people, who possess- 
ed the sovereign power, that made it ; that declared that the powers 
expressly granted to the National Government thereby, should be the 
Supreme Law of the Land, any State Constitution or laws thereof, 
to the contrary notwithstanding ; and that all powers not so granted 
were reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. They ex- 
press the distribution of powers made, and the relation of those 
powers so clearly as to leave no room for comment, which is the case 
generally with the production of these great men. The reasons why 
the Fathers submitted the ratification to the people instead of the 
Legislatures, was that the people held or controlled all sovereign 
power, and so were able to resume, or take back any powers, they 
had previously granted to their respective State Governments, and 
bestow them on the National Government they were then forming, 
and to that extent of course, abridge the powers of their State Gov- 
ernments. It was submitted to the people of each State instead of 
meeting all in one Convention, because it was more convenient; and 
the people of each State became consolidated to the extent of the 
powers granted to the United States, but no farther — as fast as they 
ratified. 

The people thereby made themselves subject to two Governments, 
the National, which was supreme within the scope of powers ex- 
pressly granted with those necessarily incidental, and the respective 
State Governments, to the extent of the remaining powers that con- 
tinued vested in them. The people then are the sovereigns, and as 
such the source of all power — who conduct their Governments, 
National and State, through their chosen agents, whose guide and 
warrant are the Constitutions — National and State, and which, so far 
as they are to act under them, they swear to support. 

It is the duty and right of the people therefore, who are the prin- 
cipals and masters, to keep their respective agents, National and 
State, within their proper spheres of duty. If one agent attempts to 
encroach on another — a National on a State, or the reverse; or in 



358 



the same government, the Legislative, on a Judicial or Executive, or 
the reverse — in all such cases, it is the imperative duty and right of 
the people to check and punish the intruder. The keeping of the 
National agents to their appropriate spheres, and to check and pun- 
ish all encroachment upon what is properly State authority, is as 
vitally essential to the safety of the system as the reverse would be. 
The safety and harmonious action of the entire system consist in 
the people keeping all their agents, National and State, to their ap- 
pointed spheres, as clearly denned in the Constitution. 

The Fathers were equally careful to separate and clearly define 
the duties pertaining to the three great departments of the National 
Government; the Legislative, consisting of the Congress, the Execu- 
tive, being the President, and the Judicial, being the Supreme Court 
of the United States, and such inferior tribunals as Congress should 
establish by law. The people directly or indirectly appoint the offi- 
cers and agents to represent them, and to perform in their place and 
stead, the duties pertaining to each of these three great departments 
of sovereignty ; and although to each is allotted by the Constitution 
separate, distinct and peculiar duties, they are styled and treated as 
co-ordinate, which - means of equal dignity and importance, and 
equally essential. A majority of each House of Congress, with the 
approval of the President, or two-thirds where he disapproves, make 
the national laws, and here its duty and power stops. The Senate 
concurs with the President, in appointing certain officers and con- 
cluding treaties, and there its executive duty and power stops. The 
executive powers are devolved on the President, who takes an oath 
to the best of his ability to preserve, protect and uphold the National 
Constitution, and to "take care that the laws are faithfully executed." 
To enable him to do this, he is made "Commander-in-Chief of the 
Army and Navy of the United States, and Militia of the States when 
called into actual service." He with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, appoints his Cabinet officers, who are made his confidential 
advisers, and for whose conduct he is made responsible ; and for this 
reason he has uniformly, since the Government was formed, dismiss- 
ed such Cabinet officers, when he saw fit, without being held account- 
able to either of the other co-ordinate departments, but only to the 
people, whose immediate representative he is. The judicial powers 
are devolved by the Constitution on "one Supreme Court" and such 
inferior tribunals as Congress shall establish by law. The Constitu- 
tion provides that the Judges shall hold their office during good be- 



havior, (which is in effect for life) and receive for their services :i 
fixed compensation that shall not be diminished during their contin- 
uance in office — thus making the Judicial agents as independent and 
far removed from partisan influence as the system would admit. The 
Constitution expressly provides that the jurisdiction of these Courts 
"shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under the Consti- 
tution and laws and treaties made by the United States," and some 
other cases not necessary here to mention. The Constitution also 
expressly provides that all the civil officers of each of the three great 
departments, may be impeached by the House of ' Representatives,, 
and tried and convicted by the Senate and removed from office, for 
treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors, 

It is also made the express duty of Congress to mnke all laws- 
necessary and proper, to carry into effect all powers granted to the 
Government or Department, or officer thereof ; '"to Biake rules for 
the Government and regulation of the Land and Nayal forces," in 
pursuance of which Congress established in 1806, the rules known 
as the "Articles of War." it also authorizes each House of Con- 
gress to establish "rules" for the Government or regulation of its 
own Body. 

Article 4, "Section 4, of the Constitution, reads thus: "-The United 
States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form 
of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion ; and 
on application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the 
Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence." 

This is an outline of the system of Civil Polity which our Fathers 
established. In my next and last, I will examine the recent measures 
and conduct of some of our public agents by the light the Constitution 
sheds. ; 
Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

February 4, 1868. 



[No. 3.] 

OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT— WHAT IS IT? 
Jiditors J I 'heeling Register : 

I have attempted in former numbers to show that our system of 



3 GO 



Civil Polity is distinct from, and exists independently of, a people, 
who are only necessary to give to the system physical expression and 
practical manifestation, and that this system can only be displaced 
or overturned, in whole or in part, by legitimate amendments or, 
forcibly, by accomplished revolution ■; and also the designs of its 
founders, and the distribution they made of powers in order to ac- 
complish their designs. I feel myself warranted in saying that there 
is not a man in the country, soldier or civilian, who was true to the 
Government during the late war, that does not know that the theory 
of the Government substantially as I have stated it, was the one the 
friends of the Government adopted at the commencement of the 
war. and continued to act on and fight for, until the insurgents sur- 
rendered in the Spring of 1865. Every act of the Government, 
some of which were solemn declarations of this fact as its purpose, 
and tendered solemn guarantees to the insurgents, if they would sub- 
mit and return ; every expression of the loyal people ; every act and 
proceeding relating to the re-organization of the Government of Vir- 
ginia, and forming of the New State, affirms the fact: that the sole 
object and purpose of the Government was to suppress the insurrec- 
tion and preserve and maintain the national system unbroken and as 
little impaired as possible by the necessary wear and tear of the war. 
To take time therefore, to advance proof of a fact so well known 
would be like attempting to prove that the sun shines in a cloudless 
midday, or that we exist. 

The annihilation of States now set up is a theory brought about 
since our triumphant suppression of the insurrection in 1865, when 
all the insurgents surrendered their arms and persons to our Generals 
upon terms dictated by President Lincoln. These terms assured to 
the vanquished entire protection against civil or military punishment, 
so long as they obeyed the laws, thereby securing the sacred pledge 
of the Government to all actually in arms, who were, of course, the 
most dangerous portion of the insurgents. None ol these, as I have 
heard, have broken their parole, but have, as a general thing, 
demeaned themselves in a manner becoming brave, honorable and 
sincere men. It becomes, therefore, a curious inquiry how ten 
States have been annihilated during the calm and general exhaustion 
consequent on such a war. Certainly President Lincoln did not 
consider them annihilated when, immediately upon the surrender, he 
invited the members of the Virginia Legislature who had been elect- 
ed while the insurgents were operating her Government as a part. 



361 



and in harmony with, the bogus Confederacy before it was overthrown, 
. to convene, renew their oath of allegiance to the Government and 
operate the State in harmony therewith. Though he revoked this 
invitation afterwards, at the instance of others and for reasons other 
than the annihilation of the States, it shows, nevertheless, very clear- 
ly what his views were after the war had ceased. And it satisfies 
me, also, that if he had been spared to the nation this phantasm of 
State annihilation would never have been started with any success. 
Mr. Lincoln was not prepared to admit that, after having suppress- 
ed the insurrection, at a cost of half a million of lives and three 
billions of treasure, that the integrity of the Nation was still broken, 
and the Departments or States, in which the insurrection had raged, 
were annihilated. The sound head and patriotic heart of Abraham 
Lincoln would never have made so humilating, so self-stultifying, so 
fatal a concession. He saw clearly that the integrity of the Govern- 
ment was saved and unimpared, save the wear and tear of the war, and 
that all that was necessary to be done, was to place those State Gov- 
ernments again in practical relation and harmonious working with the 
Nation — from which they had been temporarily diverted by the trea- 
sonable acts of the insurgents who were subject to be punished for 
their crimes in the manner the laws of the Nation and of war pre- 
scribe. No 3 his great spirit, set free by the assassin's hand, as it 
took its flight to a more deserving world, cast its hist lingering and 
smiling look on no broken Government, with one-third of its States 
destroyed as is now pretended, but on a Government saved, vindica- 
ted and entire in all its parts as when it came from the hands of its 
makers, save only such wear and tear as successful war had occasion- 
ed. He saw that the changes made by the war required amendments 
of the National Constitution, and at his suggestion, Congress had in- 
augurated an amendment pending at his death, forever abolishing 
slavery, which has since been duly ratified and is now a part of that 
instrument. 

President Johnson adopted the plan of re -organization (for the 
term "Reconstruction" has been manufactured since) that had been 
inaugurated by Mr. Lincoln, only with greater stringency, as is clear- 
ly proved by General Grant and others testimony before the im- 
peachment Committee. He by the great calamity and without a 
day's preparation, had the great and delicate work devolved on him, 
Congress having adjourned. lie as Commander-in-Chiei ol the 
Army of the Nation, then Hushed with victory, and the late insurgents 

\ 2 



vanquished, their arms having been surrendered, asking mercy at his- 
feet. It was a trying and responsible position for any man of brave' 
and generous heart. His first acts were to avenge the murder of his- 
lamented predecessor, and he seized the authors and the fleeing, 
leaders of the late insurrection, then supposed to be implicated, with 
an iron hand. The former he caused promptly to be tried by a mili- 
tary commission, and being convicted and sentenced, he ordered to 
be executed, and rightly so, it seems to me, for the frames of the 
Constitution must have contemplated that the army should protect 
itself as well as the country, and if its Commander-in-Chief were 
murdered in his camp by a soldier or civilian, the offender subjected? 
himself to punishment by military law, and was not entitled to 7% trial 
by jury. The leader of the defunct insurrection has through imbe- 
cility proved to be an elephant on the hands of all, President, Con- 
gress and Court, and they are not rid of him yet. 

Mr. Johnson had sworn to support the Const'Sution and "ta&c 
care that the laws are faithfully executed." The national laws- are: 
here doubtless meant, but the reorganizing of the ! State governments- 
at the same time would facilitate their execution ; and as Coisaman- 
der-in-Chief of the Army it was his duty to govern the surrendered 
insurgents until a civil government could be inaugurated to do it ; 
and besides, being; vested with all the Executive power of the Gov- 
ernment, which its Constitution, expressly requires shall guarantee to* 
each State a government republican in form," and being earnestly" 
urged by General Grant and others, as appears from his testimony 
and the members of his Cabinet,, and having before him. the example 
and plan of his predecessor,, it seems to me he was dearly justified 
in undertaking to reorganize the State governments as he did y with- 
out first convening Congress. He never pretended that his work 
would not be subject to revision by that body, though he might, in. 
my judgment, have well taken that ground, except so far as the ad- 
mission of members to Congress was concerned. To have waited 
for the calling and convening of Congress and for its determination, 
which would probably have taken- raany months, and which, when* 
obtained, could have been, it seems to me, on-ly advisory in the case 
— would not have met the urgent necessity of the time ; if the known 
and uniform theory and practice of his predecessor and of the entire 
Government before that time, were correct, Congress had, no power 
to legislate, touching the system of Civil Polity then existing, in the 
States respectively as established by their respective Constitutions 



<•> C- o 

and laws prior to the commencement of the war. To procure men 
who would operate the already existing laws in harmony with the 
Nation, was all that could be Constitutionally done. Of course the 
vanquished insurgents were subject to be punished as the law pre- 
scribed — unless shielded — as all that had been in arms were, by their 
parole so long as the}^ obeyed the laws. If the Government's theory 
and practice to that time were correct, then the internal polity of 
these States could only be changed by the action of their respective 
peoples, or by amendments of the National Constitution, which 
latter of course, amends and displaces whatever comes in conflict, 
both State Constitutions and laws. 

Mr. J<ihnsok, in his proclamation of May, appointed Provisional 
Governors and authorized the call of Conventions in the several 
States to appoint proper men to operate the State Governments, pre- 
scribing, substantially, that loyal men who were voters at the com- 
mencement of the war should alone be entitled to vote for delegates. 
The Conventions convened and the requisite State officers were 
elected and their oath of allegiance to the Governments, both 
National and State, was renewed ; Representatives and Senators to 
Congress were chosen : the National Courts opened, as far as prac- 
ticable ; the blockade removed, the postal system established, 
and the pending amendment of the Constitution, abolishing slavery, 
he insisted the Legislatures should ratify, &c, and reported his doings 
to Congress in December, 1865. During this session the quarrel 
between the President and Congress commenced. Congress inaug- 
urated the pending amendment of the National Constitution for "re- 
t'onstructiag n the States. This, Mr. J'ohmsgn advised the late insurrec- 
tionary States not to ratify, but continued to urge them to ratify the 
one abolishing slavery ; he also induced them to declare void their 
ordinances of secession and repudiate the debts incurred in their 
rebellious movements and reported again to Congress in December 
1866. Meanwhile, Mr. Johxscx had "swung round the circle," and 
the Fall elections had taken place, in which the friends of Congress 
signally triumphed. This result greatly emboldened the members of 
the then existing Congress, and, pretending great indignation that 
the Legislatures of the late insurrectionary States declined to ratify 
the pending amendment, it passed in February, 1867, what is called 
the "Reconstruction Act," which with its supplementary act in June 
following assumed to abolish the very State Legislatures to which it 
had submitted the proposed amendment for ratification, and estab- 



364 

lishing a Military Government in ten of Hie States. And as the 
President, whom the Constitution makes Commander-in-Chief of the 
Army and Navy of the United States, did not co-operate as they 
thought he ought, they propose 3 by the bill now pending, to withdraw 
from him the portion of the army used for the government of the ten 
States, and vest the supreme command thereof in General Grant — • 
making him, in effect, Supreme Military Dictator, so far as ten States 
and that portion of the army are concerned, as he will be accounta- 
ble to no one, for being a military officer, he is not impeachable, and, 
being supreme in the military, there will be no superior officer to 
order a court-martial to try him. 

The present Congress has also passed what is called a "civil 
tenure law," prohibiting the President from removing any of his Cab- 
inet officers without the consent of the Senate. The right of the 
President to remove such officers at pleasure was established immed- 
iately after the Government went into operation, and has been exer- 
cised since by the successive Presidents, without any objection from 
any source. This uniform practice of eighty years, with entire 
acquiesence, would certainly give the Constitution a construction not 
to be departed from, especially when the untrammeled exercise of 
the right is so manifestly necessary to the prompt and due execution 
of the Executive power. Moreover, as the Constitutionality of the 
Reconstruction Acts is pending before the Supreme Court of the 
United States, and apprehending that five of the eight Judges of 
that Court, entertain opinions adverse to their Constitutionality, Con- 
gress has inaugurated a bill requiring at least six of the Judges to 
concur in order to declare any of its acts Unconstitutional. It has 
always been the practice in this and all other Courts in the Nation 
since its origin, as well as the Courts of England, for many centuries 
before, that a majority should be competent to decide all Judicial 
questions of whatever character. Can it with any reason be suppos- 
ed that the framers of the Constitution who were eminent lawyers 
most of them, and well acquainted with this long and uniform prac- 
tice in both countries would not have made an express exception, if 
they had intended there should be any, to the uniform and long es- 
tablished rule ? They make no such exception. They establish by 
the Constitution one "Supreme Court of the United States," and 
provide that the President, with the advice of the Senate, shall ap- 
point and commission during good behavior the Judges of this Court, 
and they shall be compensated by fixed salaries not to be diminished 



during their term of orifice, thereby making the tribunal as independ- 
ent and impartial as possible. It authorizes this Court to decide on 
the Constitutionality of all laws that Congress shall pass. Can there 
be any doubt but that the framers meant that the majority of that 
Court should be competent to decide in conformity to the universal 
practice, that the concurrence of a majority should be competent ? 
And if they had intended any exception to this long established prac- 
tice in declaring a law of Congress unconstitutional, would they 
not have said so ? It seems to me there can be but one answer. If 
then such was the meaning and intention of the framers, Congress, I 
submit, has no right to disregard it any more than it has an express 
provision of that instrument. 

In the same way we are to arrive at what the framers meant when 
they said "the President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army 
and Navy of the United States," without using any qualifying or re- 
strictive terms. They meant to confer upon him all powers then 
properly belonging to such an officer, to be determined by the prac- 
tice and usage of the mother country and public law. If they had 
not so intended, they would have made qualifications. But some 
members of Congress say the proposed law does not abridge his 
power as Commander-in Chief, although the proposed law subjects 
the President to a fine of not more than $5,000 and imprisonment for 
not more than two years if he issue any order or interferes in any 
way with General Grant or any of his subordinates. Others pretend 
to justify by the clause in the Constitution authorizing Congress to 
make "rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval 
forces." Congress gave a construction to this clause soon after the 
Government was formed in enacting what is known as the "Articles 
of War." The long and established acquiescence in and practice 
under these rules show what authority the framers meant to give 
Congress by this clause. The Constitution also says each House of 
Congress may establish "rules" for the regulation of its body. The 
assumption of power derived from this clause, to take the command 
of the Army and Navy from the President, is too palpably unmaintain- 
able to admit of comment. If Congress can take it in part, it can 
take it in whole, and thus usurp all power and means which the 
President possesses to execute tne laws. 

These manifest violations of the Constitution the Radicals have en- 
deavored to shelter, first under one, then another provision, without 
success, and having ransacked the entire instrument they rest at last 



366 



©n this :. "The United States shall guarantee to every State in the 
Union, a republican form of Government, and shall protect each of 
thein against invasion ; and on application of the Legislature or the 
Executive (where the Legislature cannot be convened) against do- 
mestic violence." 

Now can any one doubt, but that the makers had in view the 
thirteen then existing States with those of similar structure that 
should be admitted afterwards, and that such State Governments 
were considered by them as being republican in form, that slavery 
existed in all but one at the time, and the right of suffrage existing 
in all was far more restricted than in any of the late insurrectionary 
States at the commencement of the war. The makers then not only 
meant to enjoin on the United States Government, to guarantee to 
each of the then existing States and to all of similar character ad- 
mitted afterward, but expressly declared what was necessary to con- 
stitute a republican form of government as they understood it. Be- 
side, it is States existing and in the Union, that this clause contem- 
plates, shall be guaranteed Republican forms of government and be 
protected against invasion, and on application as before stated, against 
domestic violence. What invasion of any of the ten States has been 
attempted since the war to warrant the Government's interference ? 
What Legislature or Executive where that could . not be convened, 
has applied to the Government for protection against domestic vio- 
lence. How is it possible, then, that this clause can have any appli- 
cation, if their theory is correct that the States have ceased to exist ? 
The Constitution does not authorize, nor ask, the United States to 
erect or set up State Governments in order to guarantee them after- 
ward. And if the States exist, as they no doubt do, where is the 
invasion to justify or precedent application required to authorize in- 
terference to protect against domestic violence ? The clause affords 
no warrant or shield for their measures in any view of the case, but 
leaves exposed all their destructive abnormities ; and even where a 
case does exist, it is the United States which consists of three "co- 
ordinate" departments, all of equal dignity, that is to so guarantee 
and protect. What new infiatus of the "higher law" has so expand- 
ed Congress that it absorbs, in this case, the other two departments ? 
The whole affair strikingly illustrates the general truth, that one de- 
parture from the right track in government, as in individuals, neces- 
sitates many, if persisted in. Speedy retracing or inevitable ruin is 
the only alternative in any case. 



3(57 

Hence we have before us the spectacle of a great party, highly 
vitalized by its late signal victory in war, plunging headlong to the 
destruction of itself, and the very Government it had formerly done 
so much to protect. Its great men, like Ex-Governor Morton for 
instance who exemplified in his tecent speech in Congress, how small 
and pitiable a strong man makes himself appear, when he under- 
takes to war against truth, conscience r and his own record — he who is- 
claimed to be their Webster in Constitutional law, "assumes for his 
premises and foundation of his argument, a declaration which he 
says, President Johnson made in his proclamation of May, 1865,. 
"that the late insurrectionary States were without civil Government" — 
meaning of course that there were no suitable officers to operate 
them, and these had to be furnished in some way in order to restore 
these States to their former harmonious relations with the Nation, 
Having thus perverted Mr. Johnson's statement and meaning, to 
State annihilation, he set to work to reconstruct them in order to 
give Congress States to guarantee Republican forms of Government 
to. His clear seeing mind admonished him to assume as his premises- 
State annihilation, and not to undertake to establish it by argument, 
It takes the old and stereotyped doctors of the "higher law" to es- 
tablish that by argument. Fools rush in where their "Webster"" 
dare not tread. There are many others in the same predicament 
with the Ex-Governor. And all this, it seems to me, is attributib'e to 
the great mis-step Congress made when it undertook a year ago to 
pass and carry out these "reconstruct'on" measures — when it would 
have been competent it seems to me, for that body to have inaugu- 
rated such amendments to the National Constitution as the occasion 
required, and have sought their ratification through conventions, 
which the Constitution expressly authorizes, convened in each State, 
and in the construction and organization of which, Congress must 
necessarily have plenary power, instead of making the miserable 
botch they have in adopting the Legislature mode of ratification, ov- 
er which Legislatures they can have no constitutional control. 

Now I can account for this strange and unnatural course of con- 
duct only in this way: We all know there were two extreme parties 
of forty years standing that got up the recent war — the authors of 
the "Higher Law" doctrine on one side, and the fire-eaters of the 
South on the other. Slavery was the subject of contention up to the 
time ot the war, and each party placed it above the Constitution in 
dignity and importance, which as far back as I can remember the 



doctors of the "Higher Law" denounced as a "Compact with Hell 
and League with the Devil," and in this faith kept pushing until they 
had placed on the Statue Books of fifteen States nullification in the 
guise of "Personal Liberty Laws," wanting the "overt act" only, 
which their fiery opponents were indiscreet enough to commit, to 
have reversed their present condition. These doctors are peculiarly 
constituted. They possess every kind of sense but honest, hard 
common sense, and to this they are utter strangers. They never 
sleep, but are always pushing for some one idea. Slavery and the 
negro absorbed their whole being. Reckless of consequences they 
kept pushing, declaring all the while the fire eaters could not fight, 
while the latter maintained their opponents dnred not. When the 
war came with its dreadful fury, the doctors for a time stood far in 
Lie rear, amazed and confounded, till at length their anxiety for the 
fate of slavery and the negro, their capital stock in trade, aroused 
them. They saw if the rebellion succeeded their stock was gone, 
and it slavery should be abolished and the Government succeed, and 
the insurrectionary State Governments should remain undestroyed, 
then the freedmen would remain in those States where there would 
be no way to manipulate them without going and living in those 
States — and this they dared not do. At this point it was we heard 
the first cry from far in the rear of State annihilation, and nothing 
but "territory" left, if the Government should succeed. This 
increased and became more emphatic after the proclamation abolish- 
ing slavery was issued, and as the prospects of the Government to 
success brightened. 

When the rebellion fell, nearly or quite all of the doctors sprang 
from the rear to the front, claimed the merit and glory of having 
saved the Government and abolished slavery, but were ready to 
swear that all the late insurrectionary State Governments were 
annulled and nothing but the "territory" and the freedmen remain- 
ed, and as their former fire eating opponents, whose presence here- 
tofore had been their check, were vanquished and chained, and State 
Governments destroyed, and field for future operation left clear, their 
exultation, lust of power and pelf, and hatred toward a fallen foe, 
knew no bounds, and, under military protection and escort hastened 
to explore the "territories," look to their stock in trade, now become 
freedmen, and show them their love, and the scars received in their 
behalf. They at this time made little, if any, impression on the Gov- 
ernment or loyal people. But the great exhaustion and general 



3C9 

desire for repose consequent on such a Struggle, and the doctors hav- 
ing become rested during the strife, have plied their vocation with 
ceaseless energy until they have driven things to the pass we hud 
them in now. They have beguiled strong men to their fanciful 
dogmas of State annihilation, as they formerly did Clay and Web- 
ster Whigs and Jacksontan Democrats to their Abolition dogmas. 
And why is it ? Because men love a crooked rather than straight 
path, darkness rather than light— illusion rather than truth ? Or is 
it rather, the irresistible charm and promising prospects proffered 
through the variegated political hobbies they get up, which allure 
men whose political aspirations run away with their heads and 
conscience ? I ascribe it mainly to the Latter. 

Now the people have got to dispose of these irrepressible doctors 
of the "higher law," before they can hope to have their respective 
governments operated in accordance with their Constitutions, and 
peace and prosperity restored to the Nation, They must either 
vanquish and chain them as they have their old co-workers, the fire- 
eaters, or else unloose the latter and let them, like the Kilkenny 
Cats, destroy each other. The encounter could not be an uupleas- 
ing sight, 1 submit, to all patriots and honest men. It seems to me 
cowardly and unwise in a great Nation, that has conquered such an 
insurrection and disarmed the insurgents, to fear to trust its pardoned 
authors in any relation a sound Stare policy might dictate, now that 
slavery is removed. 

The authors of both extremes consigned to their proper places, 
with the abnormity of slavery which gave them birth, and was en 
tailed on the Nation by the Mother Country, and the ten State Gov- 
ernments restored to their "practical relations" and harmonious co- 
operations with the national system, with such amendments of the 
National Constitution as the wear and tear of the war and changes 
occasioned thereby require — may we not hope for a happy and pros 
perous future ? But I submit that our written Constitutions, National 
and State, in their true spirit and meaning, altered in the modes 
pointed out as occasion shall require, form the only star that can 
-safely guide us on our way, and to them all should be made to rig- 
idly adhere. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

February 13, 

\\2 



370 



[No. i.] 

THE IMPEACHMENT OF THE PRESIDENT— WHAT 
IS IT FOR? 

Editors Wheeling Register : 

The question propounded addresses itself to us all with an empha- 
sis that demands inquiry. When the agents we have placed in one 
of the three great Departments of the National Government under 
take to trespass Upon and crush another of our • agents, the President, 
whom we have appointed and placed in another of the great Depart- 
ments to perform other and distinct works for ais, with the oath of 
God upon him to the best of his ability to do it faithfully, according, 
to the Constitution and laws made in accordance therewith — no one- 1 
of us r however humble, can stand indifferent. No matter who the* 
assailed agent may be f if unjustly and unconstitutionally assailed it is» 
not he alone that is to fall., but our National Constitution, and our 
liberties are to fall with bim. The weapon they aim at his side has* 
first to pierce the Constitution, and not ourselves and posterity only* 
but humanity, must share the wound.. Hence the transcendant im- 
portance of the measure inaugurated by the lower House of Con- 
gress against the President — and for what ? For what the flatulent 
and agonizing travail of the lower House on the 21st ult ? For what 
the solemn and imposing march of Tbaddeus Stevens and John A. 
Bingham up to the Senate— and then down again ? For what the' 
malicious and exultant gleam from the eyes of the sne&ibe?s of that 
body when theiir announcement was made? For what the te»der to 
Congress of hundreds ®*f thousands of arr&ed men wills tfoeir God 
speeds by Governor Oglesby and others— including our own Legisla- 
ture — a simultaneous concert of action, indicating unmistakably the 
widely extended., the perfectly organized as»d prepared conspiracy, to 
perpetuate power at all hazards— that slumbers like a hidden mine 
beneath us — another "Golden Circle,"' only enlarged to* the bounds- 
of our country and animated by the Northern instead of the Southern 
branch of the first originators of treason? Fof what ih& rules of the 
Senate, when sitting as a high Courl of Impeachment of twenty -five 
Sections, and many columns long ? And all this too by agents of 
ours, who at the close of the war, when Government and people were 
groaning under accumulated debt, voted themselves $5,000 instead-, of 
#3,000 per session, averaging four or five months, exclusive of travel- 



371 



mg fees, whew not one in twenty of them can earn the lesser amount 
m the same time anywhere else. 

Now such of us as are not skilled in the "higher law" arts would 
naturally suppose that all this parade, circumstance and dramatic 
preparation either denoted that something awful had taken place, or 
else betokened that something of that sort was to take place. What 
their future action will be no "uninitiated" man will undertake to 
predict But we do know that all the President has done is to order 
Mir. Stanton, whom he had heretofore permitted to act as Secretary 
of War, on sufferance merely, (for he iaad never appointed him,) that 
his services were no longer needed, and ordered Adjutant General 
Thomas to take charge of the office until a Secretary could be regu- 
larly appointed. That k all. That the National Constitution gives 
<Dur Chief Executive Officer this right no legal or common sense 
mind has ever doubted. The Doctors of the "higher law" and their 
disciples stand alone in its denial. The fraraers of the Constitution 
vested in the President the '"Executive Power" of the Government 
they were framing, which embraced all powers then understood to be 
included in that terra, and not by them in express tenuis excluded. 
The absolute power of the Chief Executive to remove Cabinet offi- 
cers at pleasure was then embraced in the term "Executive Power," 
and there is not a word in the Constitution abridging it in this re- 
spect. So the first Congress, embracing many of the makers of the 
Constitution, decided, after careful deliberation,, in 1789, and the 
Nation and all her great men since., without a dissenting voice, ex- 
cepting the doctors of the "higher law" and their disciples of our 
day. These by virtue of their transcendental art claim to get 
around it in this way, that whenever Congress by a two-third vote 
passes a bill over the President's veto, whatever be his reasons for 
that veto, the same becomes a valid law, so far as the President is 
concerned, and he is bound whatever be his own conscientious con- 
victions as to its constitutionality, to see it carried into execution, 
and in all things to obey it, au-d if he fails m any particular he is 
subject to impeachment, conviction and removal. It would follow 
then as a necessary consequence, that if Congress should pass a law 
abolishing the entire Executive and Judicial Departments of our 
Government and send it to the President, who should veto and return 
it, giving as his reasons that both his and the Judiciary Departments 
•were co-ordinate and independent branches of the Government, so 
*»ade and established by the Constitution, and that Congress, which 



372 



could only act in subordination to that Constitution, had no power 
over them, and still Congress passes it over his veto by a two thirds 
vote, it thereby becomes, as they say, a law, which the President, 
although thereby abolished, is bound to execute and obey by virtue 
of the clause in the Constitution, that "he shall take care that the 
laws be faithfully executed," and bound to do it too until the Federal 
Court shall pronounce it void. But as the Federal Court is also 
abolished by the same act, I suppose they mean the defunct Presi- 
dent is to keep on executing. A pretty fix to place the President's 
oath-bound conscience in. I mentioned this necessary consequence 
that must follow to some of the disciples who seemed to doubt the 
power to do so much at once, but contended it could be done grad- 
ually, by piecemeal, and not violate the Constitution any to hurt I 
When the President shall veto a bill solely on the ground that he be- 
lieves it inexpedie?it, and it is passed by a two-thirds vote, it should, 
perhaps, with propriety, be taken to be a valid law which he is bound 
to execute. But when he vetoes a bill because he conscientiously be- 
lieves it conflicts with the Constitution, which he has sworn "to pre- 
serve, protect and defend," a two-thirds vote of Congress can neither 
justify nor oblige him to commit legal and moral perjury by carrying 
it into execution, or obeying it — for the Constitution is in that case, 
to the President's conscience at least, the only existing law that he is 
to see executed, or to obey ; and the conflicting act of Congress is a 
nullity ; at all events until the Supreme Court oi the Nation shall 
have declared otherwise ; and then it must clearly appear that he 
acted corruptly before he can be impeached. If President Johnson 
be impeachable for what he has done, then all former Presidents, 
from Washington down, were equally so, for they all did, or claimed 
a Constitutional right to do, the same things. 

I observe the tenth article of the impeachment is based solely on 
the following casual remarks of the President to General Emory, 
while inquiring as to his command. Upon the General's calling his 
attention to section second of the Army Appropriation Law passed 
March 2d, 1867, which the General thought the President must have 
overlooked when he approved the bill, as the section restricted, and 
unconstitutionally so too it would seem, the President and his Secre- 
tary of War issuing any orders except through General Grant or 
the next in command in his absence, and made it highly penal for 
the President or other giver, as well as the receiver, for any disobed- 
ience thereof — upon reading the section at the request of the Gen T 



373 



eral, he remarked : "Am I understand that the President of the 
United States can issue no order except through General Grant or 
the Commanding General ?" "This is not in accordance with the 
Constitution of the United States, which makes me Commander-in- 
Chief of the Army and Navy or the commission you hold" — all of 
which was doubtless true, and he might have added, the General's 
oath of office also — and yet these casual remarks of the President 
are made a distinct ground for his impeachment. If the President is 
impeachable at all — is it not for his having submitted as far as he has 
to the unwarranted and unconstitutional aggressions of Congress up- 
on the clearly defined prerogatives of his office ? 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

March 4, 1868. 



[No. 2.] 

THE IMPEACHMENT SO FAR—WHAT HAS IT PROVED? 
Editors IV heeling Register: 

The evidence has been closed. The Senate which is claimed to 
be "a law unto itself," which implies absolutism or unlimited power, 
has admitted everything that years of preparation and all the power 
and money Congress possesses, could manufacture or scrape togeth- 
er, against the accused, and arbitrarily excluded the most pertinent 
evidence offered in his defence. And still sufficient light has been 
let in to dispel the fog and fumes with which they at first enveloped 
the case, and what do we see now upon the stage ? First and fore- 
most we see the accused, sitting "grand and calm," though it may be 
"upon his coffin lid," ("for the doctors of the higher law in their utter 
desperation still encompass him") with his legal advisers, who have 
proved themselves in all respects worthy their client and his cause ; 
while from the prosecuting side, we have seen and now see, what ? 
A conspiracy, a persecution, which for wickedness, meanness and 
folly has no parallel in the annals of the world ; and how worthily 
have the managers represented their side of the scene, well befitting 
the final exit and extinction of the Northern branch of the getters-up 
of the late rebellion. 

But what honest heart in the nation in view of the scene, does not 
swell with sympathy, admiration and gratitude towards the accused ? 
The sole architect of his own fortune — rising from poverty and ob- 



374 



scurity through the voluntary suffrage of a free people to the highest 
office in their gift ; and at no time or step in this ascent have the 
people permitted him to be defeated. How extraordinary this fact, 
and how conclusive the evidence it furnishes, that under his rough 
exterior, and though wanting in some of the graces and accomplish- 
ments which so often cover modern degeneracy — Andrew Johnson 
possesses an honest heart, a brave spirit and a sound head, worthy 
his great patron, General Jackson, whose precept and example early 
taught him to be true, amidst all trials, to conscience, his country 
and God, who always takes care of the consequences. Hence we 
saw him in 1861 on the floor of the Senate, when his present perse- 
cutors and judges were dumb and overwhelmed with fear, rising in 
the very face of treason, with that heroic courage and moral grand- 
eur which astonished and electrified the nation. As it was with his 
great patron, so he is being made the object of unmerited and fiend- 
ish persecution by those whose selfish, unwise and impracticable 
schemes he opposes. The fame and character of his great master 
are now safe, and whatever may be the decision or action of the 
President's present persecutors and judges, the name of Andrew 
Johnson will be remembered and honored by a just and grateful 
people when they will have been forgotten, or remembered only for 
their unparalleled wickedness, meanness and folly. 

This is the Impeachment which the very "loil" members of our 
Legislature last winter by joint resolution urged Congress to under- 
take, and came so near instructing our Senators while sitting as 
Judges to sustain, regardless, of course, of their oaths and the evi- 
dence that should be adduced ; and in the ardor of their "loilty" ten- 
dered to Congress the military power of the State, while at that very 
time the protection and defence of "loilty" at home, required, as they 
pretended, the presence and co operation of Federal soldiers sent a 
short time before by General Grant at the earnest request of our 
very *'loil" Governor. So stands this branch of the bastard loyalty 
of the country with its higher law inrlatus, which now assumes to 
trample under foot our Constitutions, both National and State. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

May 4, 1868. 



[No. V, 

HOW THE DOCTORS OF THE "HIGHER LAW" ADMINIS- 
TER JUDICIAL POWER— ITS DEMORALIZING EFFECT 
UPON THE COUNTRY. 
Editors Wheeling Register ; 

The freedom from all restraint, whether by the Constitution or 
otherwise, with which the present Congress legislates and enacts , what 
it calls laws, bas ceased to excite surprise } whereas the present im- 
peachment trial is the first exhibition we have bad of their mode of 
exercising judicial functions—performing the duties of a Court, and 
that the highest judicial tribunal known to the law— the Senate, sit- 
ting as a High Court of Impeachment, presided over by the Chief 
Justice, to try the Chief Executive- Magistrate of the Nation. That 
the Senate, when acting in this capacity? is such a Court, the Consti- 
tution, the uniform practice heretofore under it, and ihe oath required 
of each member to decide ihe issues before him "according to the law 
and the e7.'idence, ,f abundantly prove. Because the people have con- 
fined its jurisdiction to the trial and punishment of their other agents, 
engaged in the different departments when charged by the lower 
House with having committed grave offences while in office, makes it 
no less a Court, a judicial tribunal, and subject to the rules of judicial 
procedure — -no less so than the Supreme Court of the United States, 
which the same people have established to hear and determine other 
matters in dispute. It performs what judges and juries combined 
perform in the trial of criminal cases in our ordinary Courts, and its 
duties rise in importance and responsibility according to the magni- 
tude of the issue and station of the accused. We can readily con- 
ceive therefore the demoralizing or beneficial influences its conduct 
must have upon all inferior judicial tribunals throughout the country. 
Its example must be potent, either for good, or for evil. 

We have been educated to regard our Courts of whatever grade as 
temples of justice wherein the Goddess sits blindfolded, that she 
shall not be influenced by the characters of the parties, or other ac- 
companying circumstances, but decide only from the law and, the evi- 
dence. Nothing, the Altar and Temple of God excepted, have our 
people been taught to approach with so profound respect and- rever- 
ence as our Courts of Justice. Who dares to approach or tamper 
with a Judge or jury, while they have in charge an indictment for a 
criminal offence, though against the humblest and vilest individual I 



370 

And where is the Judge or juryman that dares to be approached of 
tampered with? The popular abhorrence of such conduct has, 
through the law of every State, denounced the severest penalties on 
him who tampers, and on him who suffers himself to be tampered 
with. Nor is any person who has formed or expressed an opinion in 
respect to the guilt or innocence of the party about to be tried, al- 
lowed by the law of any of the States, to sit as Judge or juryman on 
the trial. Such has been the practice under the Constitution and 
laws since the Government was formed, at least among all who do 
not belong to the "higher law" school. 

.But what do we see in this High Court of Impeachment, which 
ihas been inaugurated and conducted on the "Higher Law" plan by 
the doctors and their disciples ? Why, some two years ago, the fry- 
ers, Judges and jurymen, as members of a co ordinate branch of the 
Government, publicly denounced the accused as a traitor — a Judas 
Jscariot — a tyrant, &c, and have continued to heap obloquy of eve- 
ry description upon him since ; and on the 21st of February last, by 
solemn resolution, publicly declared that he was guilty of the very 
offence now charged against him, and which in the capacity of judges 
and jury they now set to hear and determine ! And their disciples 
from every part of the country echoed back — impeach him ! and ten- 
dered hundreds of thousands of armed men to back Congress in 
doing it. Nor were those of our little State behind, in will at least, 
though we might well doubt their ability, as they had just called in 
bands of Federal soldiers to guard their exceedingly great "loyalty" 
at home from rebel attack. But, nevertheless, by solemn resolution 
of the Legislature, they did tender all the military power of the 
State — though as empty a tender as the personage we read of made 
eighteen centuries ago. 

How does this agree with our notions of a fair and impartial judi- 
cial trial under the Constitution and established rules of law, which 
have been handed down to us from our fathers ? Would not such 
previously expressed opinion of the guilt of the accused disqualify ? 
But then we must remember, "their ways are above our ways, and 
their thoughts above our thoughts," and this may account for what 
looks so strange to us. 

But what further strange things do we see, saying nothing of their 
unprecedented decisions excluding and admitting evidence during 
the trial ? We see the "Higher Law" members of this Court of Im- 



377 



peachment, since committed to their deliberation, encompassed 
and embraced by the whole "loil," once happy, but now terribly 
frightened family — rushing to Washington from every quarter, and 
crying, "Crucify him — Crucify him !" and others — 'Save us Cassius or 
we sink I" and so also shrieks the entire Press of the "Higher Law" 
persuasion, and even the faithful of the lower House, who acted as 
the Grand Jury to impeach, now join in this stupendous outcry. The 
trouble has been, I am inclined to think, that in this High Court of 
Impeachment Case, to which they were unaccustomed, the "Higher 
Law" innatus carried them to an altitude, where their heads began to 
swim — and some begin to show a disposition to get down ; others, to 
have a faint remembrance that they had taken an oath to decide, accord- 
ing to the law and the evidence. These are set upon and badgered in 
all sorts of ways, some shaking clenched fists in their faces, some 
threatening to take their offices from them, others pointing to the 
past and reminding rhem how many times before the trial com- 
menced, they had publicly proclaimed the guilt of the accused, and 
denouncing eternal disgrace and infamy on them and their posterity, 
if they should suffer either conscience or the evidence adduced at the 
trial, to stop or change their course now, when the life of the party is 
at stake. 

This is a faint outline of what was going on at Washington otl 
Tuesday, and is it any wonder the High Court of Impeachment, thus 
encompassed and distracted, should adjourn till Saturday — to take 
breath, make new imprecations to the heavenly bodies, especially 
the moon, their tutelar deity, if for no worse purpose. What embra- 
cery there will be in the intermediate time ! Suppose a similar mob 
should gather around our Circuit Court Judge and jury while delib- 
erating on an ordinary criminal case — what should we old fashioned 
folks think of this mode of procuring a verdict? 

This is the first criminal trial conducted wholly on the "Higher 
Law" plan, that has occurred in the country. May we not hope it 
will be the last? But the inquiry naturally arises — what great object 
is sought to be accomplished by this unprecedented and extraordin- 
ary conduct ? The only answer that can be given is that the doc- 
tors and their disciples hope thereby in some way to perpetuate their 
power, and restore peace, happiness and prosperity to the South and 
nation, by forcing at the point of the bayonet the intelligent and en- 
lightened white race of the South to swear before high Heaven that 
they "accept the civil and political equality of all men," including the 

X2 



378 



recently emancipated slaves, denouncing the severest penalties if 
they should not conscientiously believe what they so swear to, and 
that they will never say or do anything contrary thereto during their 
lives. Such are the terms of the new condition on which the' 
whites of the South are to be re-admitted to participate in the Gov- 
ernment True, to our vision there may be no logical sequence or 
connection in all this — still may we not regard thera as the manifesta- 
tions of higher agencies, which we fail to appreciate, because we do 
not comprehend ? In a few days we may expects to- see them attach 
their ear, freighted with all these ^Siighei Law" wonders, to General 
Grant, whom they long, since made Commander in-Chief of the Ar- 
my.. So let us prepare to witless mother exhibition of the "Higher 
Law" woiaders at Chicago. 

Very Respectfully 

G. P. 

May iS, e86& 



[Mo, 4 J 

ANOTHER ACT IN THE GRAND DRAMA, ANI> PROBA- 
BLY THE LAST — THE PRESIDENT ACQUITTED. 

Editors Wheeling Register:- 

So we see the High Court of I impeachment, after having beers 
badgered, embraced and squeezed as no mortals ever were before — ■ 
convened again on Saturday, at twelve. The faithful of the lower 
House — failing, to appear with the promptness they were wont to do 
in the earlier stages, were sent for, and with slow funereal step soon 
made their appearance- General. Grant had given out word that he 
should decline to lead the- grotesque and fantastic party in the coming 
campaign r unless they impeached Andrew Johnson and got him out 
of the way. This greatly heightened their anxiety and fears. The 
scene of Haaban and Mordecai, and* the gallows too, rose up be- 
fore them.. But m the ""Higher Law,' r so fruitful of expedients, they 
soon found a way, with scriptural authority, "the last shall be first,, 
and the first last," to justify, and so determined to have the last arti- 
cle put first, though, contrary to- their previously established order 
that the articles should be put and voted on, in the order they 
stood in the bill of Impeachment, and according to uniform practice. 
But as the. Eleventh and last contained all that was material in the 



379 



previous articles, and also the additional matter, without which Mr. 
Stevens had assured them any County Court lawyer could upset the 
case — they resolved to try this first ; and in case of failure to beat a 
retreat under cover of the smoke as best they could. The Eleventh 
article was put, and on this the President was acquitted, notwith- 
standing Mr. Wade, who was to become President in case of convic- 
tion, v»ted guilty. A Nation's thanks and gratitude to the heroic 
nineteen, who, in defiance of such unparalleled presure and ap- 
pliance, dared to be true to the Constitution, their oath and their (rod. 

But how to retreat and still secure General Grant for their leader 
— that was the question with the faithful. One moved to adjourn be- 
fore the result of the vote was declared, but on reflection that the 
public was already in possession of the vote, they concluded to let 
the Chief Justice declare it, which he did. It was then moved that 
they adjourn to the .26th inst, It was objected that the order pre- 
viously passed required that the vote should be then taken on the 
other articles, and the Chief Justice sustained the objection ; but the 
faithful took an appeal, overruled the Chief Justice, and adjourned 
till the 26th inst ; whereupon the House, accompanied by the Mana- 
gers, paced back to their quarters at the tune of the rogue's or dead 
man's march — which of the two the telegram omitted to name — and 
then its Chairman, the redoubtable Washburne, reported — progress! 
Soon after the faithful of both Houses adjourned to Chicago, where 
the whole distressed family is expected to be gathered, and General 
Grant is expected to consent to become .their standard bearer, up- 
on all the faithful declaring, by solemn adjuration, that the President 
shall hereafter be convicted on some of the ten remaining articles. 
So they have got more wonders in store for us. 

So we see the way this High Court of Impeachment makes its de- 
cisions is no less strange and wonderful than other parts of its pro- 
ceedings. This is indeed a day of wonders for a plain Republican 
people who are the sovereigns, and who pay the getters up $5,000 
apiece for three or four months time, with traveling fees and incident- 
als, which amount to at least as much more, besides paying the im- 
mense cost of the show.. 

One fact has been disclosed which has for some time been suspect- 
ed to exist : That the Methodist Episcopal Church North is in secret 
league with the whole proceedings, and that its share in the spoils is 
to be the establishment of its Church throughout the Southern States 



380 



hi connection with the bogus political reconstruction, at the same 
time, and by means of the same bayonets, and when accomplished, is 
to be recognized as the established Church of the nation. To be 
satisfied of this, one has only to read the proceedings of the General 
Conference at Chicago, the 14th inst., and the use made of them by 
the Radical press throughout the country, including Apostle Gree- 
ley's, and "Dead Duck" Forney's. That Conference is represented 
to contain nine Bishops and two hundred and forty-two delegates, 
and with a view to impress the country with their importance, they 
claim to represent 1,100,000 American citizens, and to collect and 
ibute annually "to various connectional and local objects,"' 
$8,311,662 15 — unanimously resolved in substance as follows: That, 
"whereas, the impeachment case is pending, and the pleadings and 
evidence having been laid before the people, and being deeply im- 
pressed that upon its rightful decision will largely depend the safety 
and prosperity of the Nation, as well as the religious privileges of 
our Ministers and members in many parts of the South, and whereas 
painful rumors are in circulation that partly by unworthy jealousies 
and partly by corrupt influences by money and otherwise most ac- 
tively employed, efforts are being made to influence Senators improp- 
erly, and to prevent them from performing their high duty," and 
therefore the Conference appoints an hour from nine to ten on the 
15th inst. to pray, for the High Court of Impeachment 1 At the same 
time the irrepressible negroes assembled in Washington in Methodist 
Episcopal Conference, echo the sentiments of the Chicago Confer- 
ence, without its guise and hypocrisy, but in plain English, "convict 
Andy Johnson." 

Notwithstanding the studied effort by the Chicago Conference to 
conceal their partisan purpose, and at the same time throw their 
whole weight and influence for the conviction of the President, their 
purpose is sufficiently apparent; and if there was any doubt on the 
face of their proceedings, the immediate and pointed use made of 
them by their confederates, the Radical press of the country, 
without any attempt at correction or explanation on the part of the 
authors, confirms it. It is another exhibition, though on a far greater 
scale, of the all-grasping sectarian power, that recently by like false 
and hypocritical pretences, diverted the money given for the purpose 
of instructing our young farmers and mechanics in a knowledge of 
Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, to the support of a Methodist 



381 



Episcopal "instrumentality" in our own State ; so, also, with our Nor- 
mal Schools, &c. 

It is painful that a set of Christian men, as they profess to be, who 
claim to represent 1,100,000 Christian people, and who contrive to 
draw from the people's pockets $8,000,000 or $9,000,000 a year, to 
be expended in ways few of the contributors know anything about,, 
should be so ignorant or regardless of the solemn duty of every oath- 
bound Judge or juryman to decide according to the law and evidence 
in the case, as he conscientiously understands and believes, and not 
as others, moved by personal interest or partisan prejudices, who are 
not under oath, nor have heard the evidence — shall dictate — though 
they may be as important personages as the members of that Confer- 
ence claim and are represented to be. The means employed to con- 
vey their sentiments and impress their influence upon the Court, 
must greatly aggravate instead of mitigating their great offence, in 
the judgment of honest men at least. I think the community may 
well doubt the propriety of intrusting the application of $8,000,000 
to $9,000,000 annually, to men of their consciences and sense of 
right and just propriety. However prepared they may be to "render 
Cesar the things which are God's," and to unite Church and State, 
they will find, I submit, the people of this country not so far advanced 
as themselves. The old Methodist ship seems to have gotten 
into as bad hands as our ship of State — so far as Congress manages, 
I mean. 

The Republican members who dared to obey the behests of the 
Constitution and their own consciences rather than the behests of 
this cabal, are denounced as traitors and as having sold themselves 
for money ! The mind and heart which, in view of the evidence of 
the case, are capable of ascribing no higher motive for the action of 
Fessenden, Trumbull, Henderson, Grimes, Van Winkle, Fowler 
and Ross will find but few to envy them. These are denounced as 
far more guilty than Mr. Johnson, against whom the faithful have 
been thundering for the last two years, and to punish whom have got 
up the stupendous drama which we have witnessed at an expense 
which we have all got to feel, and now they confess that the guilt of 
these Republican members, as measured by their standard of right, 
is far greater than Mr. Johnson's. 

The facts, I submit, show the party corrupt and debauched beyond 



382 



a parallel, and the facts disclosed ought to awaken every true patriot 
and Christian in the land, of whatever party or religious sect, to con- 
sider and weigh them well, and profit by the lesson they teach. "To 
be forewarned is to be forearmed." 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

May 21, 1868. 



THE CHICAGO PLATFORM AND ITS CANDIDATES. 

Editors Wheeling Register; 

The present deplorable condition of the country, in its organic, 
pecuniary, moral and religious aspects, demands a candid and careful 
analysis of any measures of relief which are proposed. The gravity 
of the subject, the present and future of this great nation, will justify 
no other. What is really promised, and the degree of faith honest 
men can really put in the promises, are the vital questions now. In 
order to interpret aright the present doings and promises of the party 
in power, we should bear in mind that the authors are the party that 
has exercised unlimited control of the Government during the last 
three years — ever since the war ceased. What then have they really 
promised which, in view of their past conduct, should command our 
confidence ? 

The first and second sections of their platform justify, with exulta- 
tion, the annihilation by Congress of ten State Governments, which 
were at the close of the war in full existence, and which Presidents 
Lincoln and Johnson had restored to their practical relation with 
the Nation in all things except the admission of Representatives and 
Senators to Congress ; also the present structures now being erected 
by Congress through military power in their stead, and in which they 
place the making of the laws and the administration of the State 
Governments in the hands of recently emancipated slaves and ignor- 
ant and propertyless whites — less competent than the negro — to the 
exclusion of the intelligent, the enlightened and the property-owning 
natives of the ten States — these to be made the slaves and victims of 



this mass of ignorance and vice, which is now and is to be moulded 
and managed by carpet-bag adventurers from the Old Free States, 
while under the protection of Federal bayonets, and at a cost and 
sacrifice to the Nation of $300,000,000 annually. They have the 
brazen impudence to then affirm to the common sense and conscience 
of the Nation that this state of things must be continued and upheld 
or "anarchy will ensue !" "Safety, gratitude- and justice" they say 
demand this ! When two years ago this same party proposed a Con- 
stitutional amendment known as Article 14th, they referred it for rati- 
fication to the Legislatures of the States, including the ten, 
which they claim now are annihilated, and this amendment if it had 
been adopted would have left the law-making and administrative 
power of these States, so far as voting was concerned, in the hands 
of the then holders, and have left the entire negro population, every 
one of them, disfranchised, without hope of ever acquiring the right 
to vote except through the voluntary concession of their former 
masters. 

Where then was the "safety, the gratitude and the justice" towards 
the blacks, which they now put forth with so much flourish, to justify 
their present political monstrosities ? The party then aimed to per- 
petuate its power by restricting the representation of these ten States ; 
and "the safety, gratitude and justice" for the blacks was not inclu- 
ded, and so not mentioned, or probably thought of, by the Christian 
philanthropists. But when the amendment failed, then the pro- 
gramme was entirely changed, and "safety, gratitude and justice'' 
towards the blacks, the stone theretofore rejected, was made "the 
head of the corner." Besides, the fourteenth Article proposed, as- 
sumes to change and break up the very foundation on which the 
makers placed the National Government, viz : — that all free inhabi- 
tants (except Indians not taxed) were included in the basis of Na- 
tional representation and were therefore represented in all the de- 
partments of that Government, whether they were voters or not, and 
each of course had the right to call on his Representative and Gov- 
ernment for protection, which they were bound to give. But the 
proposed amendment clothes each State with the power to throw any 
United States citizens residing within its limits, out of this National 
representation, simply by "denying or abridging" the right of any to 
vote, and of course denationalizing and expatriating them with their 
families and dependants, by taking from them all part and lot in the 
Government, except what any foreigner may have. Suppose the 



384 

people of any State, as it may do, if the amendment be adopted— 
withdraw, withhold, or abridge by imposing a property or intelligence 
qualification, the right of suffrage, as to all males of twenty-one years 
of age of Irish, German, African or other descent, not only each 
male, but all their families and dependants, go out of the National 
basis of representation, cease to be represented, and as a consequence 
lose all right to claim protection — and what are they then practically 
but foreigners ! I submit that no person not within the basis of repre- 
sentation can form any part of the constituency either of the Presi- 
dent of the United States or of a Representative in Congress, nor 
can the latter be said with any propriety to represent the former. In 
case of the adoption of this amendment then, will not the colored 
people of the Old Free States, to whom suffrage is denied, abridged 
or qualified as well as the white population, whose right is abridged 
or qualified by requiring a property or intelligence qualification, all be 
thrown out of the National basis of representation, cease to be rep- 
resented and lose the right to claim its protection ? It strikes me 
this consequence must follow, and if so the present plan of recon- 
struction will be likely to eject from the Government as many or 
more than it brings in ; and eject the intelligent and tax-paying, and 
bring in benighted paupers — : this would leave a poor chance for ele- 
vating and improving the voters of the Nation. 

This is the amendment which the ten States declined to ratify, and 
in punishment therefor Congress has assumed to annihilate their 
State Governments and to erect the things they are trying to estab- 
lish by military force, with Grant as the Generalissimo — they having 
displaced the President, the Constitutional Commander. And this is 
the State of things now congratulated and with brazen impudence it 
is proclaimed to the common sense and conscience of the Nation 
that ruin and "anarchy" will ensue if anybody attempts to change 
or arrest their course. 

The only other points worth noticing in their long non-committal 
rigmarole, running through twelve Sections, with the outside % nets 
of Doctor Schurz hung on the outside — are the 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 
7th and 8th Sections, relating to the finance. Here they neither fly 
nor light, but hover like other birds of prey, watching for. what they 
can catch. The substance and pith of all these is simply this: 
" That they denounce repudiation in any form" — -pray, who don't r 
They say the public indebtedness "ought to be paid according to 



385 



the letter and spirit of the laws under which it was contracted"— 
Who has ever said otherwise ? and the people would make this ad- 
dition : "also in accordance with the judicial construction our Courts 
shall give to the written evidences of the indebtedness which the 
Government has signed and issued." Do the Doctors object to this ? 
W bile J. Cooke and his co-fleecers do, all honest men do not, nor 
can they. In the 4th they say "it is due to labor to equalize taxation 
and reduce the same as fast as the National faith will allow." They 
mean as fast as the wild, crazy schemes of their party, like Recon- 
struction at a cost and sacrifice of three hundred millions annually, 
and Impeachment at a cost of $200,000 already — with loss of two or 
three months time, will allow. This is what they mean, no more 
nor less. If as they say there is due to labor an equalization and 
reduction of taxation, why on earth has not the party made it during 
the last three years, during which time it has had supreme control 
of the legislation of the Nation ? In the fifth they say, the debt 
should be spread over a long future period with reduced interest. 
This is catering to the plan proposed by Senator Sherman, which 
proposes to pay twice the amount of the debt in interest, and then 
leave the debt itself for our children to pay. But how are they 
going to get the interest reduced below what is written in the bond, 
unless by repudiation to that extent ? In the sixth they affirm that 
the true policy for the Government is to brighten up its credit, so it 
can easily borrow more money. This doubtless would best accom- 
modate their extravagance, as they appear to be a little cramped at 
present. But how borrowing more money is to get the Government 
out of debt, I think the Doctors only can tell. In the seventh, they 
say the Government should be administered with the strictest econ- 
omy, and without such corruption as Andrew Johnson practices. 
With this single amendment, by striking out the words Andrew 
Johnson and inserting Congress with its fancifui schemes of recon- 
struction, impeachment, *xx., and I venture to say the whole Nation, 
except the "loir portion, will say — Amen. But why, I would ask, 
has not this party, while it has had unlimited control for the last 
three years, been at this work of retrenchment and economy before 
now ? Do they expect, with their present record, that honest people 
will agree to extend their lease of power for four years more upon 
such a promise ? What a party has done, and not what it now prom- 
ises, is the guarantee required for what is to be its future action. 

Their attack on President Johnson is merely a repetition oi the vile 
Ya 



386 



slanders they have filled the air with for the last two or three years,, 
only uttered with the emphasis and condensed venom which their 
recent defeat inspired. They affirm he is convicted, when their Court 
through its presiding officer has pronounced him "acquitted," The 
remaining sections only announce facts and sentiments which nobody 
thinks of disputing, except honest men think it. would be wrong to 
entice foreigners here to become naturalized, and then to place it ir* 
the power of any State to expatriate them with their families and 
dependants at pleasure, by throwing them out of the National basis* 
of representation. 

The addendum offered by Doctor Schurz" proclaims to all ex- 
Rebels that the only way back into the sheepfold' is to make confes- 
sion under oath, "that the benighted African- and clay-eating whites- 
are their civil and political equals, and that they will never say nor 
do anything contrary thereto as long as they live; and that they be- 
lieve the present mode of reconstruction to be the perfect thing, and 
accept the pains and penalties of perjury in case they do not con- 
scientiously believe all they swear to!" This together with the Decla- 
ration' of Independence was excluded from the platform, but both- 
were by unanimous vote ordered to be placed as fly-nets to the out- 
side, to catch scattering gudgeons a&d fools. By tbis way, and this- 
way only, they say om once erring but now repentant fellow-citizens — ■ 
a term that should imply a knowledge of their duties, with will.,- courage 
and intelligence to rightly perform them— may return to the Gov- 
ernment What say the high souled men of the Old Free States that 
have persistently denied the right of suffrage to the few scattering; 
blacks among them— is the way proposed for the retu?n of their "kith 
and kin' T in the South,, just and right ? 

This is the sum and substance of what the present party proposes,* 
and upon which they ask> to be continued in power lor four years 
more. I submit they propose to do nothing of advantage, which they 
have not possessed the amplest power of doing, during the last two 
years, but. have wholly failed to perform;, while the evil they propose 
to continue, if permitted- for four years more, will become past 
remedy. 

The party, conscious of its own weakness, has selected a candidate 
by whose popular wing they hope to be sustained and continued in 
power. General Grant, though he possesses the wings of an eagle, 
will find himself in the predicament of that bird of the stoim that alter 



387 



carrying away In triumph several lambs of the flock, fastened his 
talons to the carcass of the old ram, which, on trial, he found he could 
not lift, nor could he disentangle or unloose his talons so as to escape, 
and both rotted there together. Let us ?iet be deceived. 

The party and the platform are to swallow, digest and assimilate 
General Grant, and not General Grant, them : if he refuses to be 
so swallowed, digested and assimilated, the party will spew him out, 
as we have notable instances of. So when we analyze the party and 
determine its constituent elements, we know, with mathematical cer- 
tainty, what the General is to become— whatever he be now — unless 
he shall elect to be spewed out; and then he becomes a President 
without a party — a wanentity. 

Schuyler Cglfax is the representative of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church North, which has a very large interest in the fanciful recon- 
struction enterprise, as well as all others connected with the party. 
Those who have observed the partisan manner in which he often dis- 
charges the duties of his present high office, can readily guage the 
anan. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

May 27, 



THE CRISIS — WHAT SHOULD HONEST MEN DO TO SAVE 
THE COUNTRY ? 

JEditors Wheeling Register : 

It is already manifest that the present party in power is beginning 
to fall to pieces from its own rottenness and folly. Its attempt to 
impeach the President, whatever may be the result, must finish the 
party if the opposition act wisely. The recent statement in the 
Richmond press of the settled course to be pursued by our friends 
in the South — -than whom I don't believe any in the country are at 
present more loyal to the good old Institutions of our Fathers, if 
fairly treated — looks well. Like the prodigal son they have wander- 
ed, lost their substance, fed upon the husks, and returned fully pre- 



388 



pared to appreciate aright the excellence of our Institutions, when 
administered in accordance with their true spirit and meaning. They 
say they will vote for any candidates their friends in the old free 
States shall select — expecting of course, that "he selection of can- 
didates will be such as will secure success, and thereby save the 
Government. This wise and deferential offer on their part imposes 
additional responsibility on us, and should evoke all the energy, wis- 
dom and prudence we possess. The work to be accomplished is no 
light task. The present party in power has the prestige of victory 
in the late war, and the deep seated prejudices which that long and 
bloody struggle engendered, in its favor; and they will appeal to both 
with the unscrupulousness and energy of desperation itself. It be- 
hooves the opposition then, I submit, to treat these prejudices, how- 
ever unreasonable they may appear at this time, as realities, and to use 
every precaution, and husband wisely and prudently every resource. 
It must surrender any peculiar dogmas which the safety and protec- 
tion of slavery, while existing, necessitated and invoked — as that of 
extreme State rights, which culminated in attempted secession ; and 
modify at least its party name, which, however accurately descriptive 
of the true structure of our Government, has been rendered offensive 
to many by the use it has been put to in the late war, though its true 
definition contains no warrant for such a use. 

I submit the "Constitutional Democratic Party" would well express 
the qualities and truths now required to be exemplified and enforced, 
viz : that the people and not Congress, as is now assumed by the par- 
ty in power, possess the sovereign power, and that it is their right and 
duty to administer the Government through their chosen agents, who 
are religiously bound to conform at all times, to the written Constitu- 
tion and their oaths, as they conscientiously understand them, and that 
each is accountable for his acts to his God, and the people, his mas- 
ters, and to no other power. It will, at the same time, most strikingly 
distinguish the opposition from the party in power, which sets all 
Constitutions at defiance, as well as their masters. 

The persons who are selected for candidates shouid have made for 
themselves such records during the war as shall not be objectionable 
to any who were active, earnest Union men during that period. Any 
other will be artfully applied to stir up deep-seated prej udice, and re- 
pel many whose co-operation is indispensable to success. We all know 
that it was Clay and Webster Whigs and Jacksonian Democrats, 
impelled by love of country, that constituted the Union war party 



389 



and achieved the victory. These have no love or affinity for the 
present crack-brained leaders of the party in power, but yearn for 
new and more congenial affiliation. But many have a deep-seated 
prejudice engendered by the war, which cannot be ignored, but should 
be respected and conciliated in the selection of candidates. 

The statesman and successful leader accepts men as he finds them 
— treats their predilections and prejudices, however unreasonable 
they may appear to some, as substantial realities to those possessing 
them, and shapes his course accordingly. No other will be success- 
ful. Many of the grave errors of the party in power arise from their 
profound ignorance of the true nature and disposition of the subjects 
they are at work upon. They do not understand the people they are 
trying to reconstruct, either white or black ; and therefore, while im- 
pelled by the worst passions, they "go it blind" — and attempt by 
mere acts of Congress and the sword, to restore peace and harmony, 
and love and fidelity to the Government by reversing God's law and 
making those of profoundest ignorance with all its terrible accompa- 
niments — the law makers and rulers over people of intelligence and 
character — as unwise and unphilosophical as their taking the rhetori- 
cal flourishes contained in the Declaration of Independence and their 
own wild fancies and abnormal consciences, instead of the written 
Constitution — for their guide. The people are tired of these vaga- 
ries, and demand for their leaders men, possessing in some degree at 
least, the honest hard common sense which so signally distinguished 
the founders of the Republic. 

There is another thing the opposition must do to secure success. 
They must proclaim what they expect to do, in a clearly defined plat- 
form. The absorbing desire of the people is, to restore the 
whole country, in the speediest manner, to contentedness and pros- 
perity, so that all shall feel, "it is well for us to be here." They have 
lost all confidence in the present party in power to accomplish this, 
and are ready to unite with any party that can assure them that this 
result shall be speedily accomplished. Nothing short of such assur- 
ance will secure success — mark that. The "outs," merely folding 
their arms and finding fault with the "ins," will not secure success at 
this time — a full assurance of a vigorous action that will save the 
country and restore harmony and prosperity, alone will do it. The 
opposition, then, I submit, should place themselves upon the broad 
and elevated plane which the present crisis and true spirit of the 
Constitution demand — leaving beneath them, as things of the past, 



390 



abnormal dogmas, with narrow, sectional prejudices which the result 
of the war has rendered obsolete, master the present, and prepare 
for the future, of this great nation. 

Such, I submit, is the great absorbing wish of the people, who are 
already looking about for means with which to accomplish that pur- 
pose. They wish all unconstitutional laws with the fanciful recon- 
struction of States, whether in progress, or accomplished by the pres- 
ent party, swept away by legitimate*means, and such amendments to 
the National Constitution inaugurated as the changes occasioned by 
the war, the light of experience, and the present and future of the 
nation demand. Are the opposition wise and patriotic enough to 
adopt and pursue such a course and thereby secure success? I may 
venture hereafter to suggest some amendments to the National Con- 
stitution which it seems to me the present juncture requires, and 
which the opposition should pledge itself beforehand to inaugurate 
on its accession to power. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

May 13, 1 863. 



AMENDMENTS TO OUR NATIONAL CONSTITUTION, 
PROPOSED FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF MY COUN- 
TRYMEN, IRRESPECTIVE OF PARTY, WITH A STATE- 
MENT OF THE REASONS WHICH WOULD SEEM TO 
REQUIRE THEIR ADOPTION AT THE PRESENT TIME. 

It may be well, before stating the proposed Amendments, to briefly 
notice the aversion which some of our people have to amending the 
Constitution. I agree with them where time and experience has not 
demonstrated that the Amendments proposed will materially improve 
the Instrument. The Instrument, itself, shows that the Framers con- 
templated that a great Nation was to grow up under it, and hence 
they provided a plain and easy mode to alter and amend it, as the 
changes and growth of the Nation should require. A strict adher- 
ence to the letter and spirit of the Instrument, they assured us, could 
alone preserve our liberties. It was never contemplated that the Na- 



mi 



lion should grow from 3,000,000 to 35,000,000, increase its territory 
eight or ten fold, that eighty years should elapse, and civil and politi- 
cal commotions like those we have recently experienced, occur, with 
out rendering necessary, amendments to the Organic Law. It would 
be as impossible as for an infant to grow into manhood without chang- 
ing or enlarging its dress. As the expanding limbs of the child would 
rend its garments unless changed to fit its varying, size and propor- 
tions, so will a written Constitution be rent and frittered away by a 
changing and growing people, unless altered to meet the changes. 
Hence Amendments, when clearly required, can alone assure strict 
adherence to the letter and spirit of what is written, and preserve the 
Instrument from continual violation. 

It is wise and prudent, therefore, I submit, for a People living under 
a written Constitution, to amend it whenever necessary, as the only 
way to preserve it from infraction, and from being frittered away. 

No one, I trust, is weak enough to believe that the unconstitutional 
and unwise measures now in progress, with the vast expense and sac- 
rifice attending, are to supply what the Country needs, even though 
they should secure what the dominant party appear alone to seek — 
its continuance in power. The great changes and events of the last 
eighty years, as well as the mighty Future, call, I submit, for different 
measures, and that these be inaugurated and carried into effect in ac- 
cordance with, and not in violation of, the present organic law. An 
amendment of our National Constitution is a solemn expression of 
the People 01 the Nation in their sovereign capacity, before whose 
will, when thus expressed, Congress and Officers, State Constitutions 
and Legislatures, with all their sectional or partisan structures, and 
corrupt party contrivances, have to give way. It cuts, or rather un- 
ties, the "Gordian knot." Is not the present a fit occasion for this 
sovereign power to speak ? I believe it is — and that the following is 
in substance what it wishes and purposes to say, viz: 

ARTICLE 14. 

Sec. 1. "The system of Civil Polity of the United States,, 
including National and State Governments, is indissoluble, in- 
destructible, and unalterable, except by Amendments of its Constitu- 
tion, National or State, in the modes prescribed therein, respectively, 
or by successful and accomplished Revolution," 

This section expressly declares and re-affirms, I submit, the inten- 
tion and meaning of the makers of the Instrument, viz; to consoli- 



392 



date the People of all the States into a National Supreme Govern- 
ment to the extent of powers granted, either in express terms or by 
necessary implication, by the Constitution, but no further — leaving 
the States and their respective peoples in possession of all other pow- 
ers; and which together constitute the system of Civil Polity describ- 
ed in the Amendment proposed. I believe the results of the late 
war dispose, if they do not compel, all candid minds to admit the 
truth and soundness of the proposition, whatever may have been 
their views in times past. 

Sec. 2. "All persons (except Indians not taxed) born or natural- 
ized within the jurisdiction and under the laws of the United States, 
are citizens of the United States and of the States in which they re- 
side, and are alike entitled to full protection against the unlawful acts 
and claims of all foreign powers; and neither Congress nor the peo- 
ple, nor Legislature of any State or Territory, shall establish any rule 
or pass any law impairing the right of any such citizen to equal pro- 
tection under the laws. Any citizen hereafter committing treason 
against the Government of the United States, or any State, shall be 
deemed thereby to forfeit all right of protection from, and participa- 
tion in, the same ; and such right shall be restored only through the 
clemency of the Government assailed." 

This section defines citizenship, National and State, which becomes 
forfeited by hereafter committing treason against the United States, 
or any member thereof; the civil rights of citizens; their equal right 
to protection at home and abroad, and their equality before the law. 
It settles the question so much mooted during the late war, as to the 
legal status of citizens, who shall hereafter levy or openly participate 
in war against the Government of the United States, or of any State. 

Sec. 3. "Every male citizen of the United States of the age of 
twenty-one years, of sound mind, not a public pauper, nor under con- 
viction of treason, felony, or bribery at an election, who shall have 
resided before offering to vote, one year in the State or District, and 
six months in the County, Parish, City or Township, in which he 
claims such right, and shall have paid or tendered, for the support of 
Free Schools, or other public use, within the year next preceding such 
offer to vote, a tax of not less than two dollars, shall be entitled to 
vote at all elections of National and State officers elective by the 
people, upon first taking an oath, if requested thereto, before the 
conductor of the election, to support the Constitution of the United 
States and of the State wherein he resides, but no other person : 



393 



provided nevertheless that such right to vote shall at the end of five 
years from the time this article goes into operation, be suspended as 
to all such voters then under forty-five years of age, who shall be 
unable to read and write intelligibly the English language* until such 
time as they can so read and write. All qualified voters shall be 
eligible to office, both State and National*'' 

This section proposes to establish a uniform qualification for voters 
throughout the Nation. The propriety of such a uniform rule is 
manifest when we consider the direct and important interest which 
the Nation has in the establishment of a general rule* and its duty to 
fissure political equality among the citizens* and the States. The 
Nation is bound by law and usage to recognize a perfect equality be- 
tween the Senators and Representatives of the United States, how- 
ever dissimilar or unequal may have been the qualifications of the 
voters who elected such Representatives, or the members of their 
respective State Legislatures, which elected such Senators ; and the 
same may be said in respect to Presidential Electors. The qualifica- 
tions of electors of Representatives to Congress* and Presidential 
Electors^ as well as State Legislators, are at present in no two States 
the same. They all differ in the qualifications required. Some admit 
foreigners who have just landed ; some, I think, admit public pau- 
pers ; some, liberated convicts j some States require two years pre 
vious residence, while others require only a few months ; some re-^ 
quire a property or intelligence qualification, while others require 
none, and so on* 

Now this great diversity in the qualification of voters, 1 submit, is 
inconsistent and irreconcilable with the recognized equality of the 
persons elected, as Representatives and Senators in Congress* and 
Presidential Electors. Nothing Can justify the glaring inconsistency 
but the admission that we ate not a Nation, but a Confederacy. That 
our Union is a compact between sovereign States, which are the Rep- 
resentatives in Congress that are recognised as equals, without regard 
to the qualification prescribed for voters f or other internal policy of 
the several States. 

Such an admission* I apprehend* the Nation is not prepared to 
make, after the experience we have had ; but, on the contrary, to 
affirm and maintain that the Constitution constitutes us a Nation to 
the extent of the powers granted, and those necessarily incidental 
thereto, deriving its support from, and resting immediately upon, the 
Za 



394 



people of all the States, who elect the Federal officers, either by di- 
rect vote, as their Representatives in Congress, or through chosen 
agencies, as their Legislatures and Colleges of Presidential Electors— 
the former electing their Senators in Congress, while the latter elect 
their President and Vice President ; and hence the propriety and 
reason for the Nation establishing a uniform qualification for voters- 
throughout its jurisdiction. 

It may be objected, that such an Amendment will impair the just 
and necessary rights of the States, and tend too much to consolida- 
tion. I submit, neither the experience of the past, nor the nature of 
the x\mendment proposed, warrant any such conclusion ; but on the- 
contrary, that it will make a wiser and safer distribution of powers by 
the people, to their Governmental agencies, Federal and State, and 
secure thereby to each, greater harmony and efficiency. None, I 
think, will deny the propriety of the Amendment so far as electing. 
Federal officers is concerned; nor will any, I think, its extension to 
the election of State officers, in whom the Nation has only an indirect 
interest, when they shall have carefully considered what must be the 
result — the confusion, often the loss of votes, and injustice to a peo- 
ple, changing as ours are, that are occasioned by the widely differing 
and imperfectly understood qualifications for voting, in the different 
States. The proposed Amendment will, in a great measure, obviate 
these evils, and be to our migratory people, like sound National Cur- 
rency that every one knows and has confidence in, in place of State 
Bank money, whose character is neither known nor appreciated. 
Besides, it will help to prevent fraud at elections, and assure to all 
the States a more perfect Republican form of Government. There 
can well be but one qualification for voters in any State, and the Na- 
tion must either fix a general one. as proposed, or each State contin- 
ue to fix a particular qualification for its own citizens. The general 
jurisdiction, and superior dignity and functions of the National Gov- 
ernment, as well as the great advantages to be derived from a general 
and- uniform rule require, it seems to me, that the people of the Na- 
tion should establish a general rule, by making it a part of their Na- 
tional Constitution. Of course it will be left to each State, with this- 
single exception, to continue to regulate its elections,, as at present. 

Many of the particulars of the general qualification I venture to 
suggest, are already recognized, in some form, by many of the States - F 
the others, I submit, the Present and Future ot our Great Nation 
require, and past experience dictates, We had, in iS6j, 2, 9^3,553. 



395 



square miles of territory, stretching from ocean to ocean, and lying 
between those parallels of latitude, within which only, the great Pow- 
ers of the Earth have hitherto grown and flourished, with a soil un- 
surpassed in diversity and fertility. At the same date we had 
31,652,821 inhabitants — about 4,000,000 of whom were slaves, since 
made free by the war, and the 13th Amendment to the National Con- 
stitution. The capacity of our territory, when settled as thickly only 
as Massachusetts is at present — 127 J inhabitants to the square mile 
• — is sufficient to contain 280,403,007 inhabitants. Compared, then, 
with the present density of Massachusetts' population, our territory is 
■only one-ninth filled. God has given the "Earth and the fullness 
thereof for the sustenance and support of man, which means man- 
kind. None can suppose that the few Anglo Saxon race now here, 
and their descendants, are to appropriate, contrary to the Divine 
gift, all this immense territory, to the exclusion of the now crowded 
and overflowing populations of the Old World, who come equally 
within the terms of the gift. The thought is no less vain than im- 
pious, God has made it our duty, as the more favored race, not 
foolishly to attempt to thwart His will, but to give our best efforts 
towards executing it, by so modifying and improving our system of 
Civil Polity as shall fit it to answer the great mission He seems to 
have assigned it ; and through the light of His Gospel and the influ- 
ence of Institutions which are its offspring — to elevate and improve 
the human race. All nations, colors, kindred and tongues are now 
coming, and will continue to flock to our shores, and we have got to 
let them in. Look at the Asiatics, already swarming our Pacific, and 
Europeans, our Atlantic coast. It is these considerations, and the 
mighty and certain Future, that moves me no less than the 4,000,000 
of the African race, that have so recently emerged from slavery to 
the status of freemen among us. Every Government, truly Repub- 
lican in form, must, of necessity, rest on the consent of the governed. 
There is no other foundation. In order to secure this consent, we 
have got to award them equal civil rights, and as soon as prepared 
and qualified, equal political rights also. It is impossible to secure 
their voluntary and cordial support in any other way. Whenever 
these are unnecessarily denied to any class of our inhabitants, they 
become discontented and alien in their feelings, and instead of giving 
the Government support, they require the constant exercise of its 
vigilance and power, to ward off their assaults. Hence reason and 
sound policy dictate that we secure their affections by dealing justly 



396* 



and bettering their condition. For this reason I have ignored color 
and race in qualification to vote ; nor have I made disloyalty to the 
Government during the late war, a disqualification, unless where the 
party is under conviction of Treason. The leaders, at least, should 
have been tried, convicted and punished, according to law, when the 
war closed, and in that way, they and their controlling influence over 
their recent followers, would have been removed. But as that course 
was not taken, and it has now become impracticable, there remains, 
I submit, but one course to pursue, which is to forgive them, together 
with their followers, and try to win all back by kind and generous 
treatment. I have no faith in any intermediate course or ground the 
Government may now take. Practically, human nature admits of no 
such. No man can be conciliated, or his affections won, through 
unnecessary annoyance, or tantalization. Nor can an American citi- 
zen, who has been bred in the exercise of our political rights, what- 
ever may have been his fault, ever be conciliated and won to a love 
and support of the Government, while it denies him the exercise of 
these rights, whatever other concessions it' shall make. 

No man in this country, where labor is so much in demand, and so 
well paid, who shall be unable or unwilling to pay $2,00 a year to- 
wards supporting Free Schools that educate his children gratis, is 
worthy a vote, in my opinion ; and I have made the payment or 
tender (as the omission of the authorities to assess or receive should 
not deprive him) of that sum within the preceding year, a pre-requi- 
site of his right to vote. I am aware some have thought otherwise, 
and that payment or tender of any tax ought not to be required, even 
for the exercise of this highest earthly trust, that can be reposed in 
an American citizen. Duty and true charity in government as in 
individuals, consist in adopting a policy that shall stimulate men to 
do for themselves and families, and not in encouraging and reward- 
ing their vice and idleness. I repeat therefore, that any American 
citizen that cannot, or will not, in the space of a year, give what a 
common laborer can earn in one day, towards the education of his 
children, or sustaining the Government that protects him and them, 
ought not to vote. To thrust it upon any citizen that will not make 
so small a sacrifice to gain it, is degrading to the lowest degree, the 
great trust. I know the humblest of my fellow citizens possess too 
much pride of character and self respect to ask or desire it. Polit- 
ical demagogues may say, however, in excuse for citizens without 
visible property, voting without paying any tax, that they are subject 



397 



to be called to help defend the Government in time of war, and for 
that reason ought to be allowed to vote. The answer is : they are 
abundantly compensated for this service by wages and bounties, and 
by the protection of their civil rights by the Government, as is also 
the case with minors, who have to help defend, though they are not 
allowed to vote. Besides, the man of visible property who pays 
taxes, however large, is equally subject to perform the same duty. 

I come now to another important element in the proposed qualifi- 
cation, viz : an ability to read and write the English language intelli- 
gibly. That every voter should be able to act understanding^ when 
he voces, none will deny ; for otherwise it is not the individual that 
votes, but he is an instrument or tool merely in the hands of others, 
or else "goes it blind." In either case the tool or blind man is not 
benefitted, but through him, as a general thing, the Government is 
injured, and selfish unprincipled demagogues are the only gainers. 
As the press has become almost the exclusive medium of informa- 
tion, and printed ballots of almost universal use, and the English 
the only language recognized by law, — to be able to read and write 
this language intelligibly, seems to be the most practical and useful 
test of adequate understanding, that can be applied. No person 
unable to read the name printed on his ballot can vote according to 
his own personal knowledge, but must necessarily act on the advice 
of others, raying nothing of the uninformed state of his mind on the 
great subject in hand. How does this comport with the dignity and 
importance of the trust ? The art of reading and writing intelligibly, 
it is true, is but a means for acquiring and imparting knowledge of 
men and things, and not a measure of innate capability. Raphael 
and Michael Angelo, if they had been born blind, could never 
have been competent to judge of color ; nor he who is born deaf, to 
judge of music or eloquence, whatever may be his native mental en- 
dowment. 

Though not a perfect test therefore of mental capability in all 
cases, it is the most practical and useful, it seems to me, that can be 
applied — for the acquisition of the art, which shall qualify him to 
vote, at the same time qualifies the voter to read his Bible at least, 
and transact with safety and ease his private business — a sufficient 
reward of itself for the labor. In no view therefore, can there be, 
any reasonable objection urged against it. Selfish, unprincipled 
demagogues must be its only opposers. 



398 



But as there are many adult male freemen throughout the country 
who have not had an opportunity to learn the art, many of whom are 
at present voters, it would seem right and reasonable to give such a 
reasonable time to qualify, before suspending their right. Five years 
after the ratification of the amendment would seem to be ample time 
for the purpose, and if not qualified in that time, their right to be 
suspended until they shall be qualified ; at least, as to all persons 
then under forty-five years of age. Those above that age may be 
excused for obvious reasons, notwithstanding the proverb, "never too 
old to learn." The effect would be to set all that come within the 
probation, native and naturalized, and of whatever color or race, to 
acquiring the art, in earnest, and thereby advance their intellectual, 
moral and religious character, their temporal and spiritual well-being. 

Sec. 4. "All monies raised or authorized, and donations made by 
Congress or any of the States for educational purposes, shall be 
impartially distributed according to the number of citizens, and 
applied within the limits designated, without regard in any case, to 
religious sect or belief." 

This section, I submit, is required to secure impartial popular edu- 
cation, and silence forever the clamor of different religious sects to 
have their proportions of public monies raised for school purposes 
allowed them, that they may the better propagate their respective 
religious tenets. The genius and policy of the Government are to 
respect and tolerate all modes of religious faith alike, so long as they 
do not violate any of the great principles of policy and right on 
which our Institutions rest, nor disturb the public peace. Public 
schools are the Nation's nurseries wherein all its youth should be 
taught the art that enables them to educate themselves, and become 
enlightened christian citizens, and not mere sectaries. 

Sec. 5. "Polygamy under any form, guise, or pretext, is a crime, 
and is prohibited within the jurisdiction of the United States." 

The quiet sufferance and undisturbed toleration on the part of our 
Representatives for so long a time of this great crime as practiced 
by the Mormons, subverting in effect the divine institution of family, 
which is the corner stone of all Republican Governments — must cer- 
tainly indicate a want of power in our Representatives to act, and a 
necessity, I submit, for the people conferring the requisite power and 



399 



insisting upon its speedy and thorough execution in suppressing so 
great a public nuisance. 

Sec* 6. "The President and Vice-President of the United States 
shall hereafter be chosen by a pluralty of the voles cast directly by 
the qualified voters of the several States, for said officers respectively, 
at elections to be held on the same day in the several States, for the 
term of six years, and both shall be ineligible to either oi said offices 
afterwards. In case of vacancies in both the offices of President and 
Vice-President, so to be chosen, the executive powers and duties 
shall devolve for, and during the unexpired term, or until supplied by 
regular election, upon the associate justice of the Supreme Court of 
the United States, whose commission shall be third in point of 
seniority among those held at the time by the associate justices of 
said court ; and in case of declination or vacancy for any cause after 
acceptance and qualification by any such associate justice, the same 
powers and duties shall devolve upon the associate justice who holds 
the next junior commission to him who so declines or vacates. Upon 
any associate justice accepting the chief executive office and duly 
qualifying, his office of judge shall become vacant. The President, 
or chief executive officer for the time being, shall have power to 
remove his cabinet officers without the consent of the Senate." 

This section will enable the qualified voters of the Nation to elect 
by direct vote and by a plurality of the votes cast, the President and 
Vice-President, whose term of office will be six years, and both to 
be ineligible to either office afterwards. The President and Vice- 
President hold the same immediate relation to the people of the 
Nation as the Governors of the several States hold to their respec- 
tive peoples. Why, then, should not the same mode of choosing be 
adopted ? Why should not a plurality of the votes cast in the Nation 
elect a President and Vice-President as well as a plurality of those 
in a State elect its Governor ? According to the present mode the 
person receiving the least number of popular votes may be elected. 
The Presidential electors of nearly every State are, 1 think, chosen 
by general ticket. A majority of one vote in the great State of 
New York may give its thirty-three electors all to one party, and the 
minority, whose votes may be as numerous as the majority into one 
vote, has no voice whatever ; and so in the other States. And then, 
if no candidate gets a majority of the electors chosen, the President 
has- to be chosen by the House of Representatives where every State,. 



400 



however disproportionate in wealth and population, is entitled to &t\& 
vote. The great State of New York, with its 4,000,000 people and 
800,000 voters, has no more voice than Delaware, with her 90,000' 
population and less than 20,000 voters. In case the Electoral College 
fail to elect a vice-President, the Senate elects by vote of a majority 
of its members. Besides, the corruption and intrigue, and the dan- 
ger attending such an election by Congress ! Suppose the task 
should devolve upon the present Congress^ — what might we expect? 
The necessity for, a change in this particular,. I submit, is too appar- 
ent to admit of argument. 

The necessity for substituting a six for a four year's term, and 
making both President and vice-President ineligible to either office 
afterward, our experience, I submit, has made equally plain. The 
avoidance of the attending danger, the derangement and depression 
of the business of the country, the additional time consumed and 
money expended, will more than outweigh any additional security 
or advantage the present four year's term gives. It makes both in- 
eligible to either office afterwards, and therefore secures the best ef- 
forts of the incumbents to promoting the country's weal, and not in* 
securing a re-election. The duties of She President have Ibecome so 
arduous that one term of six years is as much as one man can stand, 
and retain the requisite vigor ; and if the people, his masters, can 
keep him straight four years, there is no good reason why they may 
not six. 

Present and recent experience admonish that a different succession 
than is now provided should be established in case of vacancies in 
both offices. In such case the proposed amendment devolves the ex- 
ecutive powers and duties on the associate justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, whose commission shall be third in point of 
age among the associate justices, and if he declines,, or the office be- 
comes vacant from any cause, the same devolves on the associate jus- 
tice holding the next junior commission,- and so onto the youngest as- 
sociate justice on the bench ; and upon any of these judges accepting, 
and qualif}'ihg f he vacates his office of judge. The Chief Justice is 
excluded because he is obliged to preside in case of impeachment oi 
the President. The two senior associate justices are also excluded 
because their age and infirmities would be likely to reveler them un- 
equal to the|arduous task. The associate justices of this court are 
selected because their position gives assurance of competency, and 
precludes any participation in proceedings to create a vacancy* 



401 



which has become painfully conspicuous on the part of the President 
of the Senate pro tern, and Speaker of the House, in the present 
emergency. 

. The proposed amendment will silence forever further disputes as 
to the right of the Chief Executive to remove his cabinet officers, 
who. are his confidential advisers, at pleasure, and without the con- 
sent or interference of the Senate, and be responsible for his action 
in this respect immediately to the people, his masters, in the manner 
-already provided in the Constitution; and not dependant upon a 
hostile and partisan Senate which may delight to embarrass and 
shackle his administration, as is now being exemplified. 

Sec, 7* "The validity of the public debt of the United States 
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions 
and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, 
shall not be questioned, but shall be paid in accordance with the 
laws creating the same, and the written contracts which evidence 
^uch debt, as the same shall be interpreted by ike Supreme Court. But 
neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or 
obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the 
United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave ; 
but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and 
void." 

By the adoption of this section the people themselves will defi 
nitely settle the validity of the public debt and assure its payment in 
accordance with the laws and written evidences by which it has been 
contracted — -these laws and evidences to be interpreted by the Courts 
of the Nation. These I submit, are the only proper authorities to 
decide and interpret these laws and evidences, and their decisions 
should satisfy both citken, and foreign creditors. It will take the 
delicate subject out of the stormy arena of politics, and leave to our 
Legislative servants the sole task of raising the means to pay in the 
manner the Courts shall decide these laws and evidences in good 
faith require. They will at the same time settle, definitely and for- 
ever, the invalidity of any supposed debt or obligation contracted or 
incurred in the interest of the late rebellion, or sacrifice of slave 
property. 

These are the principal considerations that have induced me to 
suggest the amendments, and I respectfully submit both to the care- 
ful and earnest consideration of mv fellow-citizens. We all feel that 
A3 



402 



something should be done different from what has been attempted-; 
in order to meet the present and future wants of die Nation, and 
secure to it the just fruits of the great sacrifices that have been made. 
My knowledge oi the structure of Southern society forbids any con- 
fidence in the present mode of "reconstructing" the Southern States > 
and the pending Constitutional amendment, known as Article i4tlv 
the adoption of which is made a part of their plan, appears to me 
incongruous and subversive of the fundamental principles on which' 
our Institutions are based. Its second section proposes to clothe 
each State with the power to throw any United States citizens resid- 
ing within its limits out of the "National Basis of Representation,' 7 
by "denying or in any way abridging, except for participation in' 
the rebellion, or other crime," the right of any of its male citizens' 
over twenty-one years of age to vote for any State or National officer/ 
elective by the people. To be thrown out of the National Basis of 
Representation is to be thrown out of the Government, and beyond 
its protection '; for' neither the Government nor its officers can.be 
said to represent, or be under obligation to protect, any but their 
constituency,- which are those only who are included in the Basis of 
Representation. The theory of our Fathers was that all "White in- 
habitants" were included in the Basis of Representation, and' so had 
equal right to' claim protection whether they were voters or not. 
According to their theory, the non-voting expressed their wishes 
through the- voting portion, as females and minor children, through 
husbands, fathers, brothers, adult sons, etc. 

If this be a correct interpretation of the second Section, and their 
Amendment be adopted; what is to become of the people of Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, and some other States/ where the right of all 
to vote is at present' subject to the condition that they can read and 
write. This is certainly an "abridgement" of their right to vote, as 
defined in the pending Amendment proposed by Congress, and 
applies to all So in those States that require a property qualifica- 
tion, either general, or partial as New York requires of her colored 
population. The language used in the second Section "deny, or 
abridge in any form" must certainly/include- the conditions or restric- 
tions named. It utterly disables the people of any State to improve 
the qualification of its voters while they remain in and part of the- 
Government. These suggestions will suffice to show the crudity and 
anarchial effects of the pending Amendment, it adopted. 

To secure the adoption of the Amendments suggested; it will be 



403 



wecessary that the people elect a Congress that shall by a two-thirds 
vote of each House propose them, or that the Legislatures of two- 
thirds of the States shall direct Congress to call a National Conven- 
tion to propose amendments ; and in either case, such proposed 
amendments have to be ratified by three-fourths of the States, either 
fthrough .their respective Legislatures, or through Conventions held 
in each State, composed of Delegates elected by the people thereof. 
The Congress proposing the Amendments can select either mode of 
Ratification. The reason for t,he .makers giving this option doubtless 
was, to enable the people of ,the Nation to effect amendments to 
their organic law T through the Convention ,mode of Ratification, when 
the Legislature mode should be impracticable — for over the latter 
Congress has no control ; whereas in the formation and constitution 
of State Conventions for the purpose, it is .clothed with absolute 
control. The Constitution only provides that the Convention mode 
of Ratification may be selected by the Congress proposing the 
amendments, or calling a National Convention to propose them, but 
is wholly silent as to who shall call or determine the structure and 
composition of the State Conventions called for ratification, which, 
by necessary implication, leaves this duty with the power that makes 
the selection. Nor can this power be confined, I submit, in forming 
such State Conventions and electing delegates, to the ihen legal vo- 
ters in .the several States, but is at liberty to say who may vote in the 
choice of Delegates, The uniform practice of th.e peoples of the 
States who have heretofore amended their respective State Constitu- 
tions, extending the righ ( t of suffrage, and have submitted the ratifica- 
tion to all wfyo were to be made voters for the first time by the pro- 
posed Amendment, as well as to those who were already voters — 
affords sufficient precedent and warrant for this course. 

The people of the Nation, then, have it in their power to make the 
Amendments proposed, or any others they may wish, if they shall so 
resolve, and set about it in earnest. May I not hope that this will 
take place at no distant day? I am aware their adoption may con- 
flict with some partizan prejudices and schemes existing at the pres- 
ent moment ; nevertheless, I believe the patriotism and sound sense 
of the people are prepared to ignore narrow, selfish, temporary and 
partizan considerations, so far at least, as may be necessary to secure 
to the Nation what its Present and Future so manifestly require. 



404 



The foregoing was published in pamphlet form in the Spring of 
1868, and sent to many of the leading men of both political parties, 
of the press, and educational Institutions of the country, but with lit- 
tle apparent effect, save President Johnson soon after sent a special 
message to Congress, recommending an Amendment to the Constitu- 
tion, making the President and Vice President elective by the direct 
vote of the people for a term of six years, and both, I think, ineligible 
after. 

When I wrote and published the pamphlet I felt there was an op- 
portunity that a century to come might not offer again, to correct 
manifest existing errors or defects in our National organism, as its 
people were then situated, and implant therein a strong incentive for 
every citizen to educate and improve himself, as an individual, worthy 
to become an American sovereign, instead of burden to the Body 
Politic. I thought as my fellow citizens were then situated, the re- 
striction or condition proposed, might be accepted and incorporated 
into our National Constitution. I thought both the white and colored 
people of the ten recently Slave States, might accept unanimously, 
as they were then situated ; and that their respective friends in the 
loyal States would accept also — if not for their own and country's 
sake, for the sake of their respective friends in the South, in whom 
they felt, or professed to feel, so strong interest. I thought that Con- 
gress would propose some Amendments similar, and provide for their 
ratification by Conventions in the several States, composed of Dele- 
gates, chosen by the adult males of the States, irrespective of color, 
race, previous condition of servitude, or previous disloyalty, 
as it had the Constitutional power to do, as well as to assure 
a fair election of Delegates in all the States. I suggested all I thought 
necessary at the time, and warranted, without appearing obtrusive; and 
am convinced now, if the suggestion had been adopted and vigorous- 
ly acted on by Congress at the time, their substance at least might 
have been secured to the country — a result now perhaps unattainable 
by peaceful means ; for in a Government like ours, men have never 
voluntarily given up, or restricted powers and privileges, they already 
possessed. Physical force, amounting to war, alone retracts or 
abridges, as all past history shows. 

What would have been the consequence, if such a measure had 
been carried out at that time, both in the old Free, and the Slave 
States ? I need only mention the additional amount that would have 
been derived to the Free School fund throughout the Nation, the 



405 



strong incentive it would have placed in all American breasts, to edu- 
cate themselves and children, and soon in a great measure relieve 
every section of the country of unintelligent, venal voting, as well as 
pauperism and crime. With such an incentive I believe both White 
and Black would have done for themselves and children as individ- 
uals, what now the Government, the industrious and producing por- 
tion I mean, have got to do, or our Government will prove a failure. 
All a Republican Government can ever hope for, through pacific 
means, is to inspire and incite its individual members to make of 
themselves and children, worthy citizens. Our political servants al- 
lowed the opportune time to pass, and only gave us the Fourteenth 
Amendment then pending, with a subsequent one styled the Fifteenth 
Amendment, with various kinds of Congressional Acts to enforce 
them — of the fruits hitherto the country has partaken, and must for 
some time to come. The Fifteenth Amendment changed or mod- 
ihed the Fourteenth to this extent only: that no "denying or abridg- 
ing'" of the right to vote, should be made by any State "on account 
of color, race, or previous condition of servitude." Beyond that the 
Fourteenth Amendment remains unchanged. 



[No. r.] 

"TROO LOILTY"— IT IS TOO EXPENSIVE FOR US TO 

KEEP. 

Editors Wheeling Register : 

On comparing the financial statements of the National Government 
since the war ceased, with those under former Administrations, every 
thinking person, it would seem, must concur with me in the above 
sentiment ; for however rare and extraordinary their qualities may be, 
our people cannot stand the expense. The "trooly loil" partv, it is 
known, did not assume the exclusive control of the entire Government 
until the last session of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, during the winter 
of "66-7." 

The reports of the Secretary of the Treasury show the entire pub- 
lic indebtedness on the 30th of June, lS66, to have been $2,785,425,- 
879.21, without taking into account the money then in the Treasury, 
which of course could not vary the amount of the outstanding debt, 
and it seems a report was made by some official the first of the pres- 



406 

,ent month, showing it to be $2,633,589,757.00, showing a reduction 
.during the twenty-five months of $151,836,122.21. It appears from 
jthe Secretary's report for 1866-7 t It at $103,788,912.87 was paid be- 
fore October 31st, tS66, and before "trqo loilty" had taken .exclusive 
.control of the Government. 

The remaining $49,048,1 10.34, on the supposition the report of the 
present month tye true— is all this party has paid of the debt during 
the twenty-two months last past. The Secretary, in his report of 
1866-7, states the amount of debt on the 30th of June and also the 
31st of October, 186^, in a plain and unambiguous manner, without 
reference to the amount of cash in the Treasury at either time, but 
simply notes at the foot of his account what the amounts in the 
Treasury were at the time. In the report for 1867-8, the amount of 
outstanding indebtedness at the different periods is stated in this wise : 
"Total debt, less the amount of money in the Treasury," stating only 
the balance, after deducting the amount in the Treasury; which, at 
the time, considerably exceeded $100,000,000, the deduction of which 
would, of course, considerably vary the amount of outstanding in- 
debtedness. The amounts in the Treasury at different periods were 
as follows, viz : June 30, 1866, $132,887,849.11; October 31, 1866, 
$130,326,960.62; July t, 1867, $180,399,201.79; and 1st of Novem- 
ber, 1867, $133,998,398.02. The true measure of the public debt at 
any time is, of course, the amount of its outstanding liabilities, and 
what money it may have in the Treasury does not alter the extent of 
its liability, though it may vary its ability to pay. If A owes B 
$1,000, and has $200 in his pocket, tffis fact does not diminish the 
extent of his liability to B, for he, nevertheless, owes him the $i,ooq. 
Besides, suppqse. the ijext (}ay 4. squanders the $200, as it looks as 
though this f.'troo loilty" has done with what was iii the Treasury, it 
would pay no part qf tjie debt to B. IVfr. Greeley says tlie official 
report made the first qf this month makes the debt $2,510,000,000.00, 
over and above the money in the Treasury. That is, this amount 
added to the m one y m the Treasury gives the amount of the out- 
standing debt. Why did not that official or Mr. Greeley give us the 
amount of money in the Treasury at the same time, so we could add 
them together and see what the present outstanding debt really is ? 
If we add the amount in the Treasury June 30th, 1867, to the amount 
Mr. Greeley's official gives, it places the debt where it stood Octo- 
ber 31, 1866, after the $103,788,912.87 was paid, viz: $2,681,636,- 
966.94, and more. 



407 



This statement 61 the amount of the outstanding debt "less th6 
money in' the Treasury" at the time, which must be taken to mean 
tyhat the sum of the two gives its extent, and the parading of the one 
and squandering of the other has doubtless been the cause of the 
confusidn, and has been made, it would seem, an instrument in the 
hands of this "troo kr.lty v ," to juggle and plunder us with*. I submit 
this unusual, unprecedented and ambiguous mode of stating the 
amount of the outstanding debt, was adopted for the express purpose 
of being used and played upon in just the way it has. I have not 
been able" to see ttftl official statement, reported to have been made 
the first of the month. I have examined the papers in my reach, 
.among them, the Weekly Tribune, issuing during this month; and ca>i 
not find it. On the- whole, the evidence makes it clear, the sum 
stated by this official, when added* to the amount iir the Treasury at; 
the time, will swell the debt to what it was October 31, 1866, and 
very probably much more. Such kind of jugglery with the people's 
earning, by the hundreds of mi//ious, certainly exhibits this "troo 
loilty" in a new and striking light. It is as wonderful and unprece- 
dented as other things they have done— but far more expensive ! 

But how much have they received since taking the exclusive con- 
trol of the Government in December, 1866 ? There was received for 
the fiscal year, ending June 30, 1867, $490,634,010.27 ; and for the 
fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, $471,300,000 — making in all $961,- 
934,001.27. What have they done with this immense amount of the 
people's earnings ? The evidence as it stands makes it very clear 
they have paid no part of the principal of the public debt, but on the 
contrary have increased the principal since October 1, 1866. 

To show we cannot possibly afford to keep this "troo loilty" longer, 
however agreeable may be their company, or unrivalled their excel- 
lencies, I will refer to the expenditures under some of the fornier ad- 
ministrations. The annual average expenditure during- the eight 
years of General Jackson's administration was $3i',ooo,ooo. The 
last year of President PoLk's administration' in' x'848-49', just after the 
close of the Mexican war/ amounted to $42,8i'i,67o.o~3. During Geo. 
Taylor's they were 798,667.82. The last year of President 
Pierce's administration, they were $57,674,461. I have not the 
means at hand to furnish further. All are easily accessable to your 
readers. The foregoing are sufficient, hdwevcr, to enable the reader to' 



408 



make the necessary comparison. The Government did something 
under these administrations, but they had no parties of the "trod 
ioilty" stamp then. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P, 

August,, 28, 1868. 



[No. 2,] 

"TROO LOlLTY"— IT IS TOO EXPENSIVE FOR t'S TO 

KEEP. 

Editors Wheeling Register 

I was glad to find in your paper of to-day the official statement of 
the public debt made the first of this month, which is as follows : 
"Total public debt, 1st of August, 1868, less cash in the Treasury, 
$2,523,534,180.67." 

The Secretary is careful to limit his certificate to what the officers 
in charge have presented to him, and does not certify of his own- 
knowledge. The officers in charge have been made immediately re- 
sponsible to Congress, and not to the Secretary or President — both 
of whom Congress has assumed to displace and bind fast. The 
officers immediately in charge of this subject now, and the majority of 
Congress, belong to this same "ring»" 

It will be found by adding the amount of debt reported as out- 
standing the first instant, "less the amount of money in the Treasury" 
on that day — -to the amount that was in the Treasury October 31st, 
1866, when the Ring took exclusive possession and control, viz ; 
$130,326,960.62— adding the forty per cent, premium to the portion 
of it that was coin — and it makes the amount of the outstanding in- 
debtment October 31st, 1866, and more. The amount in the Treas- 
ury October 31, 1866, which came into the hands of the Ring when 
they ousted the Constitutional custodians, should be counted as 
against them, as liquidating the debt to that extent, and reducing it 
to the amount stated the first instant, irrespective of the amount of 
money in the Treasury on the last named day. This would be a just 
rule where both parties were innocent, and especially so where the 
money is taken through acts of usurpation. It may be safely affirmed 
then that this Ring has not paid a dollar of the public debt since it 
usurped the exclusive control, twenty-two months ago ; but increased 
it during the fust nine months rising ten millions. This is certain. 



409 



Now how much have the Ring received from the customs which is 
m coin, and Internal Revenue and other sources, which is in cur- 
rency ? Adding the accustomed premium of forty per cent, to the 
coin, and it will amount to rising a billion. Deduct the amount of 
interest on the public debt for the twenty-two months, (allowing pro- 
portionately to that paid during the year ending June 30th, 1867,) viz: 
$262,505,485,79 frorri a billion, leaves $737,498,514,21 — which is four 
hundred and one Million^ two hundred and seventy-one thousand, nine 
hundred and sixteen dollars ufa'd seventy -six cents, a year ; thirty -three 
million Jive hundred -and twenty-two thousand, six hundred and fifty- 
nine dollars &tt# s eve uty- three cents, a fnonth ; and one million one 
hundred ami seventeen thousand', four hundred and twenty-one dollars 
and ninety-seven Tents; a day! I need hot carry this further. Whoever 
will take the trouble can pursue it to hours, minutes and seconds; 
and thereby realize rrfore sensibly where this Ring is hastening us to; 
and this to defray the ordinary expenses in' a time of profound peace, 
except the disturbance and turmoil these devils are kicking up, by 
their myriads of agents throughout the country^ — all of which are 
paid with this money, and all for the purpose of upholding and per- 
petuating the rule and plunder of this Ring of "troo loilty." Prepar- 
atory to going before the people to ask a re-election, the present 
Congress have reduced appropriations to some extent the present 
session, with a view to secure re-election, and then restore these to' 
what they we're before, by passing what fhey call "deficiency bills." 
This is one of their recent contrivances. It is in keeping with their 
others'. 

Many of the people acre led to believe that this money is not 
drawn from their pockets'. Never was there a greater mistake, 
.Every dollar of it is drawn front the labor and not the capital of 
the country. Every employer deducts what he has to pay from the 
wages of operatives ; arid every merchant and trader adds to the 
price of every article he sells, every cent of revenue and duty he 
pays. The parents have to pay the tribute during the period of ges- 
tation, infancy and minority of the child, until he is able to assume 
It, and then he pays not only for himself, but family in turn, and 
escapes only in the grave, and the executor pays it on his' coffin and 
shroud. Yes — the curse of oppressive taxation reaches us at all 
limes and everywhere ; through our mothers before we are bom — 

Whate'er we do, 01 wheresoe'er we fly, 

It still adheres, ''nor quits us when we die!" 

s 3 



4W 

Is it not' right that tHey give us a satisfactory aecotint of tfiis- 
money r before we consent tosupport them further ? 

I would ask your readers;- and every honest man, lo read the ex- 
pose of the' doings of Congress and the rest- of the "Rings/' recently 
made by Mf. W. J. Man-k-er and published at length'' in the National 
Weekly Inflelli'geneer of the 6th ult. It appears Mr. Marker has' 
belonged to the Republican party since its formation*- has held the 
important office of Doorkeeper' of the House of Representatives 
during the present Congress, and had the fullest opportunity to wit- 
ness the- doings of the "Ring"—- his conscience being unable to wit- 
ness it longer in silence, he resigned the office and made the exposi- 
tion. The spirit and style, the' documentary evidence- he invokes, 
and the general acquiescence in its truth by the parties implicated, 
would seem to commend it to the attention of every patriot, As a 
sample, I give one item*: The Sergeant-at-Arms- of the Mouse, a 
member of the "Ring/ 7 of course, charged^ and was allowed traveling, 
fees at the Fate of twenty cents per mile, for travelling a distance that 
would carry him around the earth, eigM times and two -thirds !■ 
Very Respectfully-, 

G. P. 

September' i<, 1868: 

This exceeding greed of the doctors- for* lucre,- culminated finally 11*' 
the "Credit Mobilier" and its like, which' has become history, 

As the Presidential candidate of the' opposition appeared to me 
aitfog&ther objectionable at that time, I voted at the ensuing Novem- 
ber election-- neither party's electoral ticket, but voted for General W„- 
S. Hancock^ of Pennsylvania,- for President,- and Hon. T. A. Hen- 
dricks, of Indiana, for Vice President, I have not learned to this 
day whether any one else voted for these gentlemen, I» ana sure,, 
however, neither was elected,- 



The State Legislature, as well as the dominant party throtfghowtf 
i'he State being in deep sympathy with the National party — at its ses- 
sion in 1869, ratified the Fifteenth Amendment, but refused Lo inaug- 



411 



rural e an Amendment to the State Constitution, enfranchising ex- 
.^Rebels, which I have no doubt a decided majority of the then legal 
vyoters desired to hive done. The next Legislature passed a Resolu- 
tion inaugurating such an Amendment, which from the name of the 
.gentleman who introduced the Resolution. Mr, Fiji ok, a Republican 
member from Pendleton County, was called the "Flick Amendment." 
About the same time, Congress passed the Enforcement Act. 
Touching its --construction, and effect in our State, 1 published .the 
following.: 



[Wo. a.] 

THE ENFORCEMENT ACT PASSED BY CONGRESS— 
JUDGES BOND AND JACKSON'S .INTERPRETATION 
OF IT. 

(Editors Wheeling Register:: 

I have read the above Act, and cenflictir.g opinions of the above 
named Judges upon it. Judge Bond makes the words ^'without dis- 
tinction of race, color, or previous condition of servitude," in the first 
•section, reit^iciire of the preceding language, viz : ''that c/J citizens 
of the United States who are er who shall be otherwise qualified by 
law to vote at any election by the people in any State, &c, 5 shall be 
•entitled and allowed to vote at all such elections," and limits the effect 
of the section to the prevention only of distinction being made on 
^account of the causes named, and limits the offence and penalty cor- 
respondingly ; while Judge Jackson holds the wordb first above quo- 
ted net restrictive of the general terras preceding. 

It seems to me Judge Jackson is right in his interpretation ; that 
the words "without distinction of race, color, or previous condition of 
servitude'" cannot, in the common acceptation of language, or by the 
well established rules of construction, limit the right of "all citizens 
otherwise qualified to vote," nor exempt any officer preventing such 
voting, from the prescribed penalty. 

If our Legislature should pass an act granting citizens twenty- 
one years ot age a -right to retail spirituous liquors "without distinc- 
tion of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." and make it 
the duty of certain officers to giant licenses to those qualified as 
-aforesaid, and impose a penality for failure to perform, would there 
•&e any doubt that in such a case the words last above quoted, would 



412 



be mere surplusage or redundancy, and in no sense restrictive of tii6 
general grant to all citizens "twenty-one years of age?" And con] J 
an officer withhold license from any citizen twenty-one years of age, 
without incurring the penalty? Certainly not. But if the Legislature 
had, in express terms, confined the penalty to cases where officers 
should withhold license because of "race, color, or previous condition 
of servitude," then the construction would be different, and liability 
and penalty limited to withholding license for that cause only. 

Or if A. grants to B. all his stock of cattle then being on his faitq 
called C. "without distinction" of color, age, or sex, it is clear these 
last words would not restrict the grant; but all A.'s cattle on farm C, 
would pass, whatever might be their size, weight, breed or other dis- 
tinguishing qualities not mentioned or particularized. The phrase,, 
without "distinction of color, age, or sex" would be in such case, mere 
surplusage and not restrictive in any sense of the general terms of the- 
grant. 

The phrase "without distinction of race, color, or previous condi- 
tion of servitude," as used in the act in question, is by no means use- 
less, for in its peculiar connection it extends to colored citizens the 
same privilege of voting the white men have, which in many of the 
States they had not before ; but beyond this, it can have no effect y 
certainly not to limit or restrict the general terms that precede. Ev- 
ery citizen, therefore, of West Virginia "otherwise qualified to vote/' 
that is, having the age, sex, residence, freedom from participation in, 
the rebellion, &c, that our Constitution and laws require, comes, 
within the act, and any officer debarring him of the right the ac$ 
confers, is liable to the penalty, it seems to me. And the Title of the 
act, and its other parts, are irreconcilable with any other construction. 

The second section makes, in express terms, the duties of all reg- 
istering officers, and penalties for failure therein, commensurate with 
the right conferred by the first. 

The third section makes it the duty of the presiding officer at the 
election, under like penalty, to receive and count the votes of every 
person wrongfully debarred registration, upon presenting his affidavit* 
stating his application for registration, the time and place that he was 
wrongfully refused, and the name of the officer refusing, &c, as pro- 
vided in said third section. 

Especially, is the. protecting aid of such an act needed in. Wes-t 



413 

Virginia, where partisanship has placed the appointment and control 
pf the registering officers in the hands of one man, and, in effect, 
^solves them from personal liability for injuries committed, 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

September 23, 1870, 



[No. 2.] 

ENFORCEMENT ACT PASSED BY CONGRESS, 
fLditors Wheeling Register : 

I was not a little surprised to see the party that enacted the 
enforcement act raise a question as to its Constitutionality. I con- 
fined my few remarks to its legal construction. There can be no 
doubt the Supreme Court of the United States will sustain the con- 
struction we contend for, and hold that Congress had the tight to 
pass it under the broad, if not wholly discretionary power, conferred 
by the following clause, contained in both the Fourteenth and 
Fifteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, viz: "The 
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate 
legislation." Certainly, there is no such palpable inappropriateness 
as would justify interference by the judicial power, in the exercise of 
its purely judicial functions, Moreover, that court must hold the 
infamous and disgraceful features of their registration law void, for 
being wholly unauthorized by the letter and spirit of the State Con- 
stitution. 

One word as to the way to get the question before that court ; 
about which many, myself included, were uncertain. After a careful 
examination of the law it seems to me clear that our Federal Circuit 
and District Courts have concurrent jurisdiction in both civil and 
criminal proceedings under it. If proceedings are instituted in the 
District Court, writs of error lie from its decision to the Circuit Court, 
where it will be for Chief Justice Chase and Judge Bond to revise 
and decide, and if they disagree as to the construction of the act, it 
becomes their duty on request of either party, to certify the point of 
their disagreement to the Supreme Court for decision. If the pro- 
ceedings are originally instituted in the Circuit Court, Judges Bond 
and Jackson, and perhaps Chief Justice Chase will be present ; and 
\{ only the two former and they disagree as to the construction, it 



414 



becomes their duty'trr-ee^rtify the point in the maimer "before stated, 
to the Supreme Court. %\ either course the Supreme Court can be 
reached, so far as regards the legal construction of the act. The 
-damages to the part)- wrongfully rejected to be recovered in an action 
on the case in his name, and the penalties enforced by indictment, 
.and in some cases by filing information merely. 

The second and third sections of the Enforcement Act show what 
steps those legally qualified by our .State Constitution are required to 
take. These should all be seasonably and carefully taken. None 
but those clearly qualified should attempt, for the Act bristles all 
•over with penalties. The prerequisites all done, the party can pro- 
ceed against both Registering Boards and conductors of the election, 
and have the decisions of both revised, upon a full hearing of the 
-evidence by impartial juries in the Federal Courts, in the manner 
before stated. So it strikes me. 

Our people, then, whose motto is "Mountaineers are always free," 
possess the power to rid the State and themselves of the despotism 
•of the "one man power," which the dominant party pledged itself to 
remove a year ago, as well as to inaugurate an amendment enfran- 
chising ex-rebels, and upon that pledge secured the last Legislature ; 
and still they have made no attempt to abrogate this "one man pow- 
er," and through a most singular omission on the part of the Execu- 
tive to publish, as the Constitution requires, the amendment inaugu- 
rated last winter may have become defunct. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

September 26, 1870. 



[No. 3.3 

THE ENFORCEMENT ACT PASSED BY CONGRESS. 
Editors Wheeling Register ; 

A few words more in answer to the claim made that a true con- 
struction of said act necessarily limits its effect to the Fifteenth 
Amendment. Let us see what that Amendment is. It reads thus: 

Sec. 1. "The right of a citizen of the United States to vote shall 
not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." 



m 

&tx . f. "The Congress shall have power to enforce tins Act hf 
fippro p ria te legislation." 

Now I submit, any legislative body intending to enforee this- 
Amendment only, would ba\ r e enacted merely the language of the' 
first section of the Amendment,- and prescribed suitable penalties,- 
securing its faithful' observance. Three or four short sections would* 
have said all deemed necessary by any sane mind. But instead, the* 
Enforcement Act contains twenty-three sections and covers nearly 
one page of a good sized newspaper.- To ascribe such a purpose as- 
is claimed, would- sti:4tify Congress and grossly pervert the language* 
used, 

The Title whose objsct is to indicate the substance and purpose ot 
Ihe Act,- and is always considered an important key for opening its- 
meaning, reads thus : "An Act to enforce the right of citizens of 
the United States to vote in the States of this Union,- and for other-" 
purposes/' 

Its first section then opens:- "That all citizens of the United; 
States who are" or shall be otherwise qualified by law to vote," &e* 
What law had qualified male African citizens to vote ? The most- 
obvious and natural meaning of this in the connection, is, I submit :• 
Having the other qualifications, other than and beside citizenship^ 
which is one indispensible requisite. A far more natural and reason- 
able interpretation than that they contend for, viz : "Otherwise thai* 
distinction of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." What 
known substantive qualification for voting does such "distinction"" 
represent ? It is a mere mental abstraction, and not the substantive,- 
personal, quality the word "otherwise" calls for or has relation to. 
Such a mere airy abstraction cannot be that part wanting, indicated 
by the word ^otherwise," to complete a full qualification to vote.- 
And if this interpretation of the effect the word "otherwise" has, 
should be sustained,- then aU the adull colored citizens would be ex- 
cluded, for they are not as a- general thing, "otherwise qualified" 
aside from being citizens ; and only those remaining would have to 
Vote "without distinction- of race,- color or previous condition of ser- 
vitude." according to the Enforcement Act. This would be sad 
In deed, after so much labor and fuss,- The dominant party had 
better, it seems- to me, forego what they expected to gain at the com- 
ing election by manipulating the registering officers through the'r' 
*one man power," and give to all citizens, white and black, justly 
•qualified, under? our State Constitution,, or designed to be so by the 



titteerith Amendment— a fair and equal chance to tote. Thfa f 
tmderstand is all the opposition ask. But if they decline— if they 
insist on practicing their iniquity as heretofore, then I say, and know 
all honest m'en will agree with me, make them pay the penalties the 
Enforcement Act pro v ides.- The nineteenth, twentieth and twenty- 
first sections show that Congress assumed to exercise unqualified 
control over State elections at which Representatives to Congress* 
should be elected; (and such will be our coming election); and make 
It a crime" in arty person; includiitg Governor and other State officers,- 
to hinder by any m'eans, including advice or coun-sel,- those lawfully 
qualified by law, from' voting, or assisting those to vote, who are not- 
qualified, and affixing as a penalty imprisonment or fine; or both. 
** Distinction of race, color or previous condition of servitude," is not 
mentioned or referred to in these sections. Congress claims it as a 
National right, and its authority, the" whole Constitution ; and even 
Our State officials, including their "one man" who holds the ballot 
box and sword is not exempt, nor are our present members of Con^ 
£ress who' must certainly know what Congress meant bv v the Enforce- 
ment Act,- exempt. They may be caught in the snare they helped to' 
set. Where is Senator EotreMaN, and his famous circular,- so full of 
gratuitous courrsel and advice ? 

Very Respectfully,- 
September 30, 1870/ G. P. 

[No- 4.] 

ENFORCEMENT ACT PASSED BY CONGRESS. 
Editors Wheeling Register : 

The Intelligencer of yesterday would seerrf to concede the correct- 
ness of our construction,- but denies that Congress had authority to 
pass it/ and demands that s'ome one point out the authority. This is 
a singular position for one that wants' to' be 6on side red the leading- 
paper iii trie State, to take,- and call: on others to show its ptfrty had not- 
violated the Federal Constitution'. However its party has been in 
the habit of compelling ■ irs" to prove negatives, or be disfranchised, 
and as the Act in question happens to be one of the few passed by 
Congress of late years, that would admit of a satisfactory answer to 
the call— [ refer to the last clause of the first section of the 
Fourteenth Amendment, which reads thus; "No State shall den}- 10 
any person- within- its jurisdiction* the equal protettion of the laws." 



417 



The last section of the same amendment makes it the express duty 
of Congress to see and take care that no State denies this legal pro- 
tection of the law. which law in our State is our State Constitution as 
amended. This gives the qualification and defines the right, and by 
proper construction gives to all male adult resident citizens prima 
facie the right to vote, of which he can be deprived only by the 
State or its officers proving affirmatively that the applicant comes 
within some one or more of the exceptions named. The proper en- 
forcement oi this right is what Congress intended to do by the En- 
forcement Act in our case. And in view of the published opinion of 
the Intelligencer a year ago, of the iniquitous working of our State 
registration law, I can't think its editors will regard it as inappropriate 
or unauthorized. 

There is then Sectiori 4, Article t of the United States Constitu- 
tion, which reads thus : "The times, place and manner of holding 
elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each. 
State by the Legislature thereof : but the Congest may at any time, 
by law, make cr alter suck regulations — except as to the place of 
choosing Senators." 

Here is express authority for Congress altering the "mariner" and 
"''regulations^ of holding State elections hxed by the State, at which 
Representatives to Congress afe to be chosen. This clause certainly 
authorizes the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22"d sections of the Enforcement 
Act, which forbids all persons embracing State officials and Congress- 
men, interfering in such elections. 

It seems to me your correspondent "Justice." in his able article in 
Friday's paper, errs if he means to be understood that no matter 
touching the Enforcement Act is revisable by the higher Federal 
Courts. Civil actions for the reeoverv of the »\soo damages are re- 
movable by writ of error from the District to the Circuit Court. See 
Briohtly's Digest^ page 257, section 2. 

Very Respectfully, 
October 4, iJ^o^ G. P. 



At the eleciiom that Fall tfle" opposition secured a majority m the 
Legislature, which convened the 17th of January, 1871. This Legis- 
lature gave its consent to the Amendment proposed by die previous 
Legislature, and provided Mr submitting it to the People tor Rat/ilka- 



41$ 

kon the fourth Thursday of April following— when the same 
ratified by a very large majority, though many of the old fogv politi- 
cians disapproved, or openly opposed the Ratification ! Thinking 
doubtless it would interfere with their ulterior . scheme. The same 
Legislature the 23d of February, 5-871, passed an Act for taking the- 
sense- of the People, the fourth Thursday of Augtsst then next, upon 
the call of a Convention- to alter the Constitution of the State ; and 
if called the delegates chosen to assemble at the seat of Government 
the third Monday of January,, 1872', in general Convention, with pow- 
er "to consider, discuss and propose a new Constitution^ or alteration 
and amendments to the existing Constitution of the State." 

Touching the pending Amendment enfranchising ex-rebels, the call- 
and the final work of such Convention, I published what appears im 
the sequel upon these subjects. 



[No. ij 

enfranchisement; 

Mdtf&r Cabell Co iinty Press : . 

I read in the Press of the 5th ult, with much interest, your manly r 
arftd tM seems to me wise remarks upon what is called the Flick 
Amendment. I know a very large majority- of our people are i» 
favor of the r@sult that that amendment,- if carried' through,- will pro*- 
duce, viz : the enfranchisement of all, otherwise qualified, that are 
now disfranchised. It is- true, there has been a serious defect in the- 
publication required by the Constitution* A neglect on the <part of- 
the officer charged with the duty, -io move a$ all for eight or- ten days- 
after it is too late to give the "at least three monfhs notice," required 
by the Constitution, the Courts must regard, it seems to me, as ma- 
terial defect ; and quite distinguishable from a case where such- 
officer has seasonably moved and discharged his duty, but through- 
miscarriage of letters, or fault of publishers of newspapers, the 
notice failed to seasonably appear in all the papers the Constitution- 
requires. In the latter case, the Court would hold a substantial conv- 
pliance. 



4111 



But as the wish to have the thing accomplished is so unatiimotis^ 
■there is none, or but very few to complain. And even if any one 
should be so hostile and persistent as to carry the question before 
the courts, the defense would be at liberty to avail itself of any de- 
fect existing in the amendment the last is designed to abrogate. The 
course therefore, that you ask $0 have taken in behalf of yourself 
and others disfranchised appears to nae, wise, ingenuous and just, 
•commanding my entire sympathy; and I doubt not, a large majority 
of the enfranchised, feel as I do. 

I have carefully read the remarks of the now dominant party who 
propose to abrogate the disfranchising amendment by a joint resolu- 
tion, to be passed by the coming Legislature, on the ground, it is 
void for not having been submitted for ^ratification to all who would 
-have been legal voters, in case the late rebellion had not taken place, 
and rely upon Section 6, Article z, and Section &, Article 3, of the 
Constitution which went into operation June 20, '1863. 

This raises the question that was so much discussed during and 
since the war, viz : did persons, who were citizens of the United 
-States, by joining the rebellion and committing the overt acts which 
constitute treason, thereby forfeit their right to participate in, vote 
in, and help to run the government they were warring against — that 
is to vote with one hand, while they drove daggers to the heart of the 
Government with the other. Every individual and department of 
Government, National and State, adhering to the old Government, 
have decided they did so forfeit, and thereby losing the attributes of 
citizenship of the United States, they never come within the sections 
of our Constitution before quoted. Old Virginia was re-organized 
on that principle, the New State formed on that principle, and the 
re-organization and reconstruction by the National Government since 
the war, have all proceeded on that principle. 

It would seem to me unwise for the party jusit coming into power 
in our little State, to butt its head against all these, at least, until it 
has tried the measure its opponents have inaugurated, waiving the 
omission that party permitted. The party that inaugurated the 
measure, certainly will not plead the omission, but on the contrary, 
do all in its power to consummate the measure. 

Scrupulous as I am against sanctioning any measure that does not 
•appear to me to conform substantially to the requirements of the 
Constitution, I should in this particular exigency, vote for the ratili- 



420 



Ration, under the belief that its approval would be so unanimous :t< 
to embody the popular will. 

The objection made by some to the proposed amendment, because 
it strikes out the word "white," now that the negro has become in fact 
a voter, must look to you and others desiring relief, and in fact to all, 
more fastidious than wise, I should think. 

You speak of a Convention to revise the Constitution. No such 
Convention can be held unless the people, by their votes shall first 
order it. I do not believe they, even after the disfranchised are re- 
stored, will be disposed to order such a Convention, but will choose 
to correct any present existing defects by specific amendments, pro- 
posed by the Legislature and ratified by themselves, 

Very Respectfully 

G. P, 

January 2, 187 



[No. 2.J 

SHOULD WE RATIFY THE FLICK AMENDMENT ? 
Editors Pa?i-Handle 'News : 

This question the Legislature decided to submit to the vote of the 
People. If the Flick Amendment to be submitted next month shall 
be ratified, it will restore to full Political Rights, all heretofore dis- 
franchised for Participation in the late Rebellion, being many thous- 
ands, and enough as the Political parties in the State now stand, to 
hold the balance of power, if united, Two considerations seem to 
suggest themselves ; 

1 st. What does sound State policy require of us who are to act, 
whether Politicians or no Politicians ? 

2nd. What does party expediency require of such as act from mere 
party considerations ? 

There is no one I think who will deny that sound State policy re- 
quires their restoration now, and if there has been error in this re- 
spect, it consists in having deferred too long already. Nor does it 
seem to me the second question is less clear, when the members of 
both Political parties consider the aspect and situation of those in 
relation to whose rights they are to act. They, as a general thing, 
are Confederate Soldiers, who, during the late Rebellion, left their 



homes, families and property, joined the Confederate Army, and 
hazarded all, including life, in the terrible struggle. There can be no 
doubt the great mass of these acted from conscientious motives; and 
however much error there may have been in the judgment, or 
want of success in the undertaking, they were in down-right earnest, 
or they never would have sacrificed or hazarded what they did. Be- 
sides, the discipline of such a terrible experience, necessarily changed 
in no small degree, their thoughts and characters — substituting clear 
cool reason, for heated prejudice ; facts and realities, for extravagant 
fancies. The discipline of those who went to the Front must have 
been as thorough as it was severe. Their Political and Party sym- 
pathies became modified or destroyed. They returned home after 
surrender, resolved to accept the great changes wrought during their 
absence, submit to them, save what they could of their property, and 
make the best provision possible for themselves and families under 
the new state of things, in whose success and prosperity their Future 
as well as that of their Families, had become identified. 

Such it seems to me is about the feelings and views of a large ma- 
jority of those on whose future Political rights we are to act. They 
are altogether different from the stay-at-home heroes and sympathiz- 
ers, who having eyes, seem to see not the great changes that have 
taken place. 

The Disfranchised are qualified and will be quick to discriminate 
between real and pretended friends, between them who turn out and 
vote for the Amendment for their sakes, and those whose indifference 
keep them from the Polls, or who suffer some senseless whim or 
prejudice to cast a vote against. The disfranchised have carefully 
marked the motives and efforts hitherto of the originators and sup- 
porters, as well as op posers of the Measure, and will continue to do 
so in future, and reward accordingly. "A friend in need is a friend 
indeed," becomes to them intensely real. 

Such I believe to be the character of the Disfranchised and their 
views and feelings in regard to the Flick Amendment, and that both 
sound State Policy and Party expediency call on every voter to turn 
out and vote for its Ratification. 

As regards the Expediency of a Convention to revise and remodel 
our Constitution, I may say something hereafter. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

March 31, 1871. 



422 



HOW OUR PECULIAR FORM OF GOVERNMENT RE- 
QUIRES ITS YOUTH TO BE EDUCATED. 

Editors Wheeling Intelligencer : 

No good citizen can stand indifferent to this subject now. He 
sees his government, though so young, is already hardly second to 
any on earth, in power, wealth, and influence. He sees its structure 
is unique and antagonistic in form and purpose to the other great 
powers. He sees, therefore, what it achieves it has got to do for 
itself, not only without the aid, but in spite of the active opposition 
of the other great powers, united in "holy alliance" to uphold and 
perpetuate their antagonizing systems. He sees that ours is an ex- 
periment heretofore tried, but to fail — the governed being at the 
same time the governors, or sovereigns as we say — the people them- 
selves holding the sovereign power, and enacting and administering 
the laws, through agencies whom they appoint, and whose powers 
and duties are defined in written Constitutions. 

In view of these facts, no one can help feeling how important it is 
that the coming voters, who are to be the sovereigns, should be prop- 
erly educated and trained. The history of the race points us to the 
kind of men who make the best rulers ; they are those who are most 
normally and harmoniously developed, physically, intellectually, mor- 
ally and religiously, with their animal natures subjected to their high- 
er faculties — "masters of themselves !" 

No one, I think, will say, it is not desirable that our voters should 
attain to this standard ; while every one concedes that the continu- 
ance and success of Napoleon's and the Czar of Russia's despotic 
rule, would not admit it at all. They require their subjects to be so 
educated, trained and moulded, as to make obedient and submissive 
subjects to Sovereigns, whose right they are taught to believe, is 
Divine — or their despotisms would soon cease. Hence it is seen the 
two forms of Government require entirely different modes of educa- 
tion and training. Indeed, our coming sovereigns should be educat- 
ed and trained in the mode Napoleon and Alexander are educat- 
ing and training their sons, whom they expect to succeed them, only 
not, of course, in so high, broad, and varied culture ; but as far as 



they do go the education and (raining of our youth should be the 
same, to the end they may be wise Legislators, and at the same time" 
obedient to the laws they help make. 

Now, in order to thus train awl develop oar youth, they should be' 
taught— what ? I answer emphatically,- the Truth on all subjects — 
which every human soul, unpef verted by human agency, naturally 
loves, grows, and thrives upon. This is as necessary to healthy, nor- 
mal growth and development of our intellectaial,- moral, and religious 
natures, as good nourishing food, pure water f and fresh air are to our 
physical. The infant mind, before it has been perverted, has an 
equally natural, innate desire to rind out the cause and reason of 
things. First, by its iaste, which is awakened by the Mother's breast,- 
and so it tries everything by putting it to its mouth. Then by 
touch— and how constantly it keeps its little hands agoing. Hand it 
a rattle, and sbow it how, and with how much glee it will make it go* 
for a short time, when it stops and begins to examine for the cause 
that makes it rattle ; open the rattle and show the cause, and what & 
jov beams from its little face. But it soon- throws it down and cries- 
for something new, for its instinct tells it there is no time to lose, as- 
it has got everything to learn. How early, and bow easily the smile 
of the Mother awakens responsive smiles upon its dimpling face. It 
seems to smile all over, and so sincere and deep. 

Now this is humanity as it comes tonrs from God's hand. And is- 
it any wonder Jesus so loved little children, and selected them so- 
often to typify the Kingdom He came to establish ? No one need 
tell me there is not in these little ones what, may be educated and 
trained into noble manhood and womanhood. It is the errors in the 
culture they receive that,- in- no small degree,- produces the abnor- 
malties in soul and body which we witness. "As the twig is bent, the 
tree inclines"— a few early touches serve to give shape and direction 
1o the whole after character. Truth, which is God's law, and is 
always simple and harmonious, and readily adjusts itself to the com- 
prehension and love of the "pure in heart," though an infant child,, 
and feeds and nourishes, and makes both mind and heart to grow in 
soundness- and strength, and produce such youth as are required to* 
be Sovereigns in- our Government. 

But if it be required to educate and train them to become obedient 
and submissive subjects of despotic power, we should feed their in- 
lellectual *ud moral natures with awe-inspiring, incomprehensible 



m 

things, in order to muddle and paralyze the reasoning faculty after' 
which it is easy to corrupt, mould and use the balance ; and to this 1 
end, employ large Corps of Ecclesiastics to crarft their heads with the 
Nicene creed, Westminster Catechism, and Confessions of Faith/ 
and thereby engulf, of enshroud, in Theological mysticism, God's 
divinest gift; the reasoning faculty,- and destroy individuality ; making' 
them tools and things m the' hands of a subsidized Priesthood, and 
submissive subjects to a tyrant's yoke, who may be said to own them,- 
and whose right to do so they are taught to believe is divine. But 
totally different are the needs under our Governnlent, where the 
people themselves own the Government, and in which they alone are' 
Sovereign. 

I think all will concede that histofy show's these subsidized orders of 
ecclesiastic's in the hands of despotic rulers^ have proved themselves- 
to be the vilest and cruelest of men. Do we', the' people, who are' 
our own rulers, stand in need of their like ? 

If I am right it would seem to follow that Educators and Teachers,- 
tinder our institutions^ whether ecclesiastical or secular, should strive 
to build up in our youth the largest, and most normally developed 
manhood and womanhood possible ; and that efforts otherwise di- 
rected, render the authors hurtful in the highest degree^ in view of 
the wants of our Republican Institutions. Nor can our Educators 
expect salutary aid from the like class of persons who operate under 
Governments altogether antagonistic in- form 1 , structure and purpose, 
Unless it should be by antithesis. 

In building up rfien worthy to be' sovereigns in our Government^- 
every true rrran must feel how much is devolved upon our women — • 
mothers especially. May we not hope that they will become disen- 
thralled of present anti-christlian, embarrassing, man-made theologies*- 
and adequately appreciate, and be content with, so broad and exalted 
a mission ? 

Very Respectfully, 



K(1W IMPORTANT IT IS THAT WE HAY E CORRECT 
IDEAS OE GOD. 

.Editors Pan-Handle News : 

All our experience teaches and our very constitutions require, that 
theory, Ideal,- or plan,- formed in our minds, precedes and gov erns our 
practice, or action. We cannot act at all as rational beings, unless 
in this way, even in the most ordinary matters— : as taking our accus- 
tomed meals,- taking a pleasure ride, or visiting a neighbor. The 
mind first determines what is to be done. Every one who takes any 
note of himself, must feel this to be true. 

Now if that theory, plan or ideal, first fofrrted in the mind,- be true 
and in harmony with God's Laws, then the practice, the work accom- 
plished in accordance with it,- will be successful and pleasurable ; and 
•as nearly perfect as man; in his present state, can attain. This course 
is the "straight and narrow Way," as there can be but one, right way, 
While we know the departures from this are numerous ; and these 
departures constitute the "broad way." When the Theory, plan, or 
Ideal, formed by the mind, is m conflict with God's Laws, and the 
practice or action conforms, (is it must unless it be aimless,- or ran 
dom action)— there will necessarily be failure; disappointment and 
■discomfiture; Builders of Material Structures of every description, 
■who are worthy of their calling, work in this way. The Naval,- House 
and Machine builder,' alike. These first form their models or plans. 
And so with Statesmen and political Economists in the Measures^ 
Constitutions and laws they a'dopt. 

Exactly the same' principle applies in building u'p human character — 
the germ of which lies in the new born infant; full of capabilities, and' 
with instinctive yearnings for the Right and the True in Gad and 
Nature; but to be reared and fashioned,- first by those immediately 
about it,- and then by the child.- for himself. The highest and most 
controlling- model or ideal humanity has to fashion after hi building up 
character, is its God. The attributes ascribed to Him in each case, 
parent, teacher and child will aspire to imitate, but never to excel, 
tor He is to them., perfection itself, If the God of the parent or 
teacher be the vengeful, fickle and cruel Pcspot of the Old Test- 
ament, or John Calvin, he will not fail to impress Him as the high- 
est ideal of perfection and aspiration, on the plastic and susceptible 



infant mind, so unfortunate as to fall into such hands. Just so it is? 
with all the present religious Sects in our country. Each strives to 
impress its own peculiar ideal of God and 1 His attributes upon the' 
infant mind. Like insects, each strives to deposit its own egg how- 
ever noxious. The professed believer in the A^thanasian creed, es- 
tablished by pagan Constantink at Nice i* the year 325, and 
amended afterwards by adding a third person* called the "Holy 
Ghost" to their firm of the God-head,- thereafter called the "Holy- 
trinity," v/ith the idolatries and fooleries peculiar to each subordinate' 
species or sect ; or that other class who see and feel that another 
8*m of Righteousness is rising, but like the faithless and cowardly — 
(not "blessed") Peter., they have not the courage or unselfishness to 
foae the prejudice and ignorance that would arrest ks progress, and 1 
shut out its beams from' yearning Souls. 

The supreme ideals of the foregoing,, are as much unlike the one' 
living and true God,, that Science and true philosophy with the recent 
Re veal merits,, have- displayed, as were the heathen- idols, and far 
more debasing; for the latter were regarded as only' imperfect Sym^- 
bols, suggestive of true Deity ; while the former are regarded as, and 
taught? %<& be, Deity itself. 

I am brought to this conclusion: that the human character and* 
mind can- no more attain healthy r normal growth with such false ideals* 
of God to pattern- after, than the sensitive glass of the photographer 
«an produce the form oi Apollo- when that of Hunchback is placed* 
before it ; or indian corn grow, ripen and mature, beneath the spread- 
ing branches of the oak, or deadly upas ; and that either this false 
theology ,-or American character and mindy must go down-— nor have I 
a doubt which* it will be; 

I know the advocates of the present pseudo theology- have the ar- 
rogance to claim that their doctrine and teachings have been the main- 
cause of the advancement that humanity has made under our Free,- 
Tolerant Institutions. Nothing, is further from the truth.- Our na- 
tion has advanced in spite of theirs and their theology. Its advance- 
is attributable to our free and inspiring civil Institutions,- dissevered! 
and divorced from every form of their theological Dogmas, mummery, 
and clap-trap ; and to our system of Free Schools. The latter, the: 
theological profession, including Protestant no less frhan- Catholic, 
would abolish to-morrow if they had the power; for the plain reason 
the radiating light from the one must inevitably destroy the darkness 
and ignorance on which so monstrous a Theology depends. Thig 



427 



^effulgence of noon and darkness of midnight are not less reconcilable. 
Mark — I speak of the fabricated, patched up Theology, as embodied 
in their creeds, to the truth of which they make their benighted, or 
■corrupt followers, before God and the worid, accept, swear, or con- 
fess to— and not of the little that is genuine and true, of the teachings 
and life of Jesus, as it faintly gleams through their dark, bewildering 
wrappings. This, I profoundly reverence, as I do every ray coming 
through whatever medium, from the one living and true God. 

Again, where were these advocates and their theology during the 
late rebellion when the life of the Government hung as it were by .a 
thread, as well as before and since. It is now apparent to all candid 
minds, their influence North and South, did the most to bring it 
about. ; and that during the struggle, where these opposing theologi- 
cal elements met, the right was most fierce and relentless. These, 
the most hostile of all the elements, were but a few years before, 
parts of some one of the great National Sects. Those living in the 
Slave States maintained that their theology sanctioned Slavery as a 
.divine institution, while those in the Free States maintained directly 
the reverse — that it was ,u the sum of all villainies ;" and hence the 
(unexampled fight Look then t© the conduct and feelings exhibited 
an time of peace, among their different rival sects. And then, judging 
*'the tree by its fruit," say, dear reader, whether in your conscience 
you believe their system of theology represents correctly the one onlv 
living and true God, or a false God, of human manufacture, with his 
deformities and imperfections impressed upon the minds and charac- 
ter of his worshipers ; for k .is invariably the case, that the mental 
characteristics of a people display the leading attributes ascribed to 
the God they worship. Then glance at its history from the reign of 
pagan Constantine, its author, to the present; and mark how it has 
treated the discoverers and revealers of the great truths in science 
and philosophy that have advanced civilization to its present condi- 
tion. Look at the condition of the present people of Rome, Spain. 
Portugal and other countries, where thek theology has held largest 
control in both spiritual and civil matters. 

Nor has the theology of these peoples been essentially different from 
•the so-called orthodox theology in this country. The creed, manufac- 
tured in the year 325 and subsequently, is identical, in all essential 
particulars, with the Protestant orthodox creed in this country. The 
■clergy and their confederates are withdrawing the printed copies of 
iheir creed and confession of faith, as fast as they can, from public 



428 



view ; but nevertheless, they make them the sole criterion of thelf 
faith, and require their followers to confess, or swear to their truth,, 
and be unmercifully "church mailed" if they backslide, or become 
skeptic, afterwards. What crime does not this involve the controlling, 
actors in ? What blasphemy to Deity, and wrong to man, to interpose 
such a deformed and debasing creed between the yearning soul of a 
fellow being, and the truth as it beams through all nature, from the 
living God ! And if the votary subscribes to it, feeling its falsity, he 
commits moral perjury, which, he that influences him to it, suborns. 
But I forbear to say more on a subject so abhorrent, The enlight- 
ened conscience of the candid reader will of itself point out the 
enormity and magnitude of the guilt. 

For the teachers and followers of such a theology to claim that it 
has had anything to do but retard and repress civilization, under our 
Free and Tolerant Institutions, can only be ascribed to the deformity, 
inoral and intellectual, impressed upon them by so false a theology, 
which I trust and pray the rising Sun of Righteousness may speedily 
abolish, i?i tato, and forever. Remove the over-hanging shadows and 
noxious weeds from out our corn fields and gardens, let in the blessed 
sunshine, and God will take care of the corn and the vegetables. He 
certainly does not require us to furnish substitutes for these, when 
once removed. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P, 

April it, 187 j. 



THE BIBLE IN OUR FREE SCHOOLS. 
fiditor of the Christian tyiion : 

A friend sent me the February number of the Christian Worhf t 
and I have carefully read the "different views and reasonings of all 
parties to the controversy," relating to the Bible being read or used 
in our Free Public Schools, which is contained therein, and must say, 
that it seems to me Mr. Beecher, Dr. Spear, and their associates 
have the best of the argument. 

Taking the statement of Dr. R. W. Clark, their leading ad vet* 



429 



garv, as line, (see page 50 of the number) the opposition composed, 
ns he says, of "Catholics, Atheists and Infidels," number twenty 
Will ions, which is one-half of our population, and are presumed to 
pay one-half of the taxes — what other course can be taken but the 
one suggested by Messrs. Beecher, Spear and others ? Do the 
•twenty millions who insist on its continuance in the Schools, expect 
to set at naught the opinions, equally conscientious it is to be pre- 
sumecWof the twenty millions that oppose ? And this too on a sub- 
ject, the framers of our National Constitution abstracted wholly from 
Governmental interference, and left to individual conscience solely. 
Article 6rh, Section 3d, and Article 1st (of Amendments) — of our 
National Constitution, is all that Instrument contains on the subject, 
and warrants fully my statement. That Instrument contains no such 
clause as Mr, Rankin says it does (see pages 43, 44 and 45 of the 
number) viz : "Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to 
a good Government, and the happiness of mankind, Schools and the 
means for Education shall forever be encouraged nor any phrase 
like it. It is strange fair minded, intelligent men should commit such 
an error. The State Constitutions are equally explicit in guarantee- 
ing freedom of conscience. The argument of Mr. Webster, made 
under the influence of a large fee, in the Girard will case, is equally 
without value here. The opinion of the Court in that case, delivered 
by the late Judge Story, affords the truer light, if the case be at all 
applicable. 

The friends seeming to feel their weakness, attempt to fortify, or 
divert attention from the true issue, by affirming this move on the 
part of the "Catholics, Atheists and Infidels," to be only the first step 
in a matured plan to destroy our Free School system altogether, and 
at once ; or gradually, by getting a division of the money raised for 
their support, among the different religious sects, so each may use its 
portion for inculcating its peculiar religious tenets, which would prove 
equally destructive to the system. Admitting this to be true, which I 
have no doubt is, so far as the Catholic Priesthood and bigoted devo- 
tees are concerned, but no further — how are we successfully to resist 
them ? By making up an issue with them on a question in which 
they clearly have the right, and must prevail in the end ; or waiving 
this untenable ground, and taking our stand at once on ground which is 
right and tenable, and which we can and must hold at all hazards — the 
defence and preservation of our Free School system as it now exists ? 
Skillful managers, whether in the Forum or at the Bar, always scrupu- 



430 



lotisly avoid making false, untenable issues, when they have a good 
•case on tfae merits. The preservation of our Free School system 
intact, of the character our Institutions contemplate— constitutes the 
true merits m the present case. 

Of what character do these Institutions contemplate the Schools 
shall be? Tfeey certainly leave the consciences of all citizens free in 
respect to Religion, and compel no one to contribute in any form 
towards the support of Religious Institutions, or worship. They leave 
this to the free choice of each individual, who is in this respect just 
as free, so far as regards his Government, as he wculd be in a state 
of nature, where there was no civil Government. And how happens 
this to be so with us, when in all European Governments it is made 
compulsory-? The answer is, with us the People are Sovereign, and 
make and control civil Government, which is only a common agent or 
arbiter, to which of course they surrender no more of their natural 
right, than the temporal safety and protection of the whole require, in 
their present condition. The preparation of their spiritual nature for 
existence beyond this life, our People have wisely reserved to them- 
selves as individuals, for each to "work out his own salvation,' 1 
through miuxta-ry association and means— over which they expressly 
forbid their Governmental agencies, exercising any control. This is 
in exact conformity to the teachings of the Gospel, in which the idea 
of the supreme importance of man as an individual first originated, 
•and from which our peculiar form of Government sprung. 

When Const antine placed Christianity upon the throne of the 
C/ESARS, he took from it this God given, developing principle, and 
substituted the then existing dogma, that man was made not for him- 
•self and his God, but for the State, as a temporal power. The Ro- 
;man Hierarchv continues to propagate the same dogma to this day, 
-as do also the monarchies of the Old World, as far as they are able. 
"'The many made for one," or the few. 

To make the many submit to the will of this one man, or the few, 
it became necessary for the Government, consisting of that one, or of 
•the few, to avail themselves of the superstitious element of our na- 
ture, and pervert, darken and dwarf the reasoning faculties of the 
masses — hence the union of Church and State, and a necessity for 
subsidized and pensioned ecclesiastical orders. The dwafirng and 
cruel effects of this policy, the great founders of our Institutions had 
realized, and they resolved to prevent its introduction into the new 



fffid peculiar Institutions they were founding — basing them on primi- 
tive Christianity, whose diviue author uniformly declared His "King- 
dom was not of this world"— with free individual manhood and wo- 
manhood as the prime, ultimate object, to which civil Government, 
though a necessity auxiliary, should always be subordinate. 

They ea?ly saw the absolute necessity of the citizens, who were to 
take part in the Governmental agencies, being early possessed of the 
Etft or ability ot educating themselves, mentally, morally and relig- 
ious]}', and hence they established Free Schools, built School houses r 
and passed laws levying and collecting taxes to support them —not so 
much with a vUfw lo thus educate the citizens, which takes a whole- 
life tirne, and then only to make a beginning— as to teach youth the 
art, by wfekrb to fbtfs educate themselves, as every one must, after 
acquiring the art. This art consisted in qualifying each to read and 
write intelligibly Ibe English language, read useful books, the news- 
papers, and 1 transact correctly ordinary business— an art which ena- 
bles each youth to add to his limited knowledge of things cognizable 
by his five senses, or acquired through conversation-, and communica- 
ble in the latter mode only— all that vast store of useful knowledge- 
that comes, and is imparted,- through printed and written language-- 
and numbers, or figures, when understood or skillfully combined- 
And what should we think of the teacher of an art, music, for in- 
stance, who selects lessons for his pupils,- which, without having any 
especial fitness to promote proficiency, should be offensive to the 
consciences of one-half his pupils and their parents ? I think none 
of us would hesitate to call such teacher vezy unwise. It does not 
seem to me our Governmental agencies have any right or warrant to 
go further than I have stated, while the existence and safety of such- 
agencies require they should go thus far. But to compel me to con- 
tribute money to educate mentally, morally, or religiously, my neigh- 
bor's children- further,, can find no warrant, I submit, in our Institu- 
tions — -their purpose- and policy being to leave all youth thus on a 
level, to their own resources and voluntary aid ; and such as possess- 
the genius and capacity entitling them to go further, will always find 
the means ; and those that have not, fa?? better stop where they are,, 
as the great mass of our youth always must.- Garry the latter be- 
yond, and they are likely to think themselves above manual labor, and 
still they are unfit to make an honest livelihood without it, and hence 
more likely to become idlers, loafers, beggars, paupers, convicts. 

If such then be the structure of our Political Institutions, what 



432' 



fight can the course pursued by the monarchies of the Old tVoftty 
which use Religion as a means to oppress the masses, give us on the 
subject ? What light their perverted and abused theology give to us 
whose Institutions are constructed in conformity to the primitive and' 
genuine Gospel of Jesus? What right have the twenty millions' 
friends to say to the twenty millions opponents, who pay equally 
towards the' support of Free Schools—a particular version of the 
Bible must and shall be read in the presence of their children in 
these Schools,- when the latter conscientiously believe such version 
either materially incorrect, or in part a mere fiction, as the' Jews be- 
lieve the Christian interpretation to be,- saying nothing of other forms- 
©f faiths entertained by portions of our citizens ? 

Very Respectfully, 

Q. P 



[fro. f/f 

TftE AlVlKNtMENT TO OUR NATIONAL CONSTITUTION 

—PROPOSED BY THE EVANGELICAL CHURCHES OF 

THE COUNTRY. 
Edilors Pan-Handle New's i 

W e all admire and venerate the exalted characters of the Founders' 
Of our Institutions and this feeling increases as we see the con- 
summate wisdom of their plan verified by practical experience and 
results. For the evidence of the latter, I need only say, to our 
American citizens, "look around yo'u." 

Now, does any one belie v& our country would have become what 
it- is, if these Founders^- in imitation' of the persecuting despotisms' 
they fled ffontf, had incorporated in that Instrument a State religion,- 
to rriould the conscience and judgment of the citizen 1 , and interpose" 
its arbitrary power between his free conscience and tfeason-^thereby 
shutting out the truth as it beafrts from all nature, to his naturally 
yearning and enquiring soul ? 

The Institutions they founded left the individual absolutely free,' 
save such restraints as the Peace of the State required. They, as a 
general thing, made liberal provision' for Free Schools wherein aH. 



433 



ihduding the humblest, could without price, acquire the Art and 
Power of educating themselves, intellectually, morally and religiously. 
This done, the Founders felt it safe to leave the youth to fashion and 
build up their own character — guided by parents, a divine instinct 
within, and reasoning faculty ; and inspired by the free and equal 
political Institutions placed around them. From these influences 
have been produced our Widest and Best men. The children of par- 
ents of every religious belief stand on equal footing, enjoying equal 
privileges, and equal protection. Thus conditioned and surrounded, 
each child, "with heart within and God o'er head," is left free to 
build up his own character. It is clear these great Founders had 
faith in humanity, and in its divine instincts, when unperverted by 
human agency—and did not believe it was totally depraved. They 
must have believed that humanity possessed in itself divine germs, 
requiring only the rays of truth beaming as they do from all nature, 
to properly and normally develop. If they had not so thought they 
would not have stopped Where they did ; but would have added lo 
the Supreme Organic Law they Were framing, something like the 
amendment how proposed by the pseudo Orthodoxy of the country, 
which I read to-day in a Christian: newspaper, it reads thus : 

ist. "That all Civil Government owes its authority and power to 
Almighty God. 

ind. "That the Lord fesus Christ is the ruler among the Nations. 

3d. "That his revealed will — the Bible — is the supreme authority 
in a Christian Government." 

Imagine, reader, this proposed Amendment were incorporated into 
•our National Constitution, either with or without that recently ap- 
pended, but superfluous section : "Congress shall have power to 
enforce this Amendment by appropriate legislation." What would 
be the result ? The moment it became part of the Constitution, il 
would become the sworn duty of Congress and the Executive to sec 
the principles it enunciates carried out and enforced. 

Principles and doctrines introduced into that Instrument are not 
fbr ornament, or for affording matter for political and theological 
harangue and buncum, but for practical use and execution, The 
Crafty Ecclesiastics who are moving this matter understand this, 
And now for the result : Down must go every other religious belief, 
but Christian, as interpreted atad defined b\ the orthodox creed. 



4U 



This is the Athanasian creed. Every citizen has the right, and 
should know the origin, nature and history of what is proposed to be' 
incorporated into our National Organic Law, 

Very Respectfully... 

G. Y. 

March 10, t£>%%. 



[No. 2*. J 

THE AMENDMENT TO OUR NATIONAL CONSTITUTION^ 

—PROPOSED BY THE EVANGELICAL CHURCHES OF 

THE COUNTRY. 
Editors Pan-Handle News : 

As I said in a former number, it' is the right, and' becomes the duty 
of every citizen to know the origin, nature and history of what is- 
proposed to be incorporated into that Instrument, which is the' 
Palladium of the civil and religious rights and liberties we now en- 
joy. X* concede, ii the instincts of any of my fellow-citizens should 
dispose them to worship in church or private dwelling golden calves- 
as the Israelites did in the wilderness, or pin their faith to creeds, to 
my mind equally absurd, idolatrous and demoralizing-— they have : 
the constitutional right under our Institutions to do i% while I enjoy a 
privilege equally broad. 

But when that portion ef my fellow- eitbens ask that their golden 
calf or creed be incorporated into and mads a part of our National 
Constitution, in which all citizens of whatever religious belief have 
equal interest, our relation and rights become entirely changed. The- 
origin, nature, and history of the matter proposed,- is made by its- 
proposers, a most vital political question, in- which all have equal in- 
terest, and as citizens it becomes their imperative duty to analyze' 
and sift with the same thoroughness and freedom they would any 
other matter proposed for a like purpose. I am sure no honest,- fair 
minded citizen will dispute this proposition. 

Now with these views I propose briefly to examine their proposed 
Amendment in the order of the branches into which they divide it 
and, i st, "That all civil government owes its authority and power to- 
Almighty God." 

May not the authority and power of all human structures and eon* 



435 



*.n\ rrra be wit% equal propriety 7 claimed to be derived directly from 
God, as the system of civil polity established by our Fathers ? The 
famous Resolutions of '98, '99 ; the Nullification Act of South Caro- 
lina in 1832; the equally Nullifying Personal Liberty bills passed by 
the free States in .1855-56; the ordinances of Secession, passed in 
1860-61 : the unwise, to say the least, so-called Reconstruction Acts 
of Congress since the war, which assumed a result to be accomplish- 
ed, that the whole fight on the loyal side was professedly to prevent, 
and I supposed did prevent — viz : The dismemberment or breaking 
of the Government. And descending to lower orders of human 
structure and contrivance, that of a merchant prince like A. T. 
Stewart of New York — the fiats of whose original and energetic 
mind are felt and heeded throughout the commercial world : or the 
great incorporated companies of our country, for railroad, navigation, 
manufacturing, telegraphic or other purposes — with a Vanderbilt, 
Garrett, Thompson, Huntington and their like, at their heads — 
each wielding its forty or fifty millions, organizing, working and pay- 
ing its scores of thousands of men. 

These, and in fact every individual enterprise, are organized and 
administered by the same processes ef e?dighJe?zed mind, as our Na- 
tional Government, differing only in the fact that in the latter all its 
citizens are equally interested. Success or failure in each and all 
■depends alike upon organizing and working in harmony, or out of 
harmony, with God's fixed and unalterable laws. When in harmony 
each may with propriety be said to owe its "authority and power," 
as well as success, to the efficacy of His co-ofe?'aiire laws. 

Now if this co-operative aid of God's laws to every mind acting in 
harmony with them, is to be enunciated in our National Constitution — - 
why limit the declaration to that governmental agent? why not extend 
it to all below, to include individuals ? and also to all above to which 
the ascription is equally applicable ; as no sane man will claim there 
is more of the divine in the construction and administration of civil 
government, than in other human operations. 

But then, which of the different Gods of the American people is 
to be the favored one ? The awful and cruel Jehovah of the Jews — 
The Triune God of the orthodox, with His eternal counterpoise, a 
personal devil — or some other, of still different attributes ? What a 
Jiarmo?iioiis figure head this would be to our Republic ! Our present 
corrupt politicians, aided by our seventy thousand Ministers, whose 
relative morality I leave the reader to settle. 



But the motive for proposing this limited enunciation, rs explained 
by a reference to its origin and history. It had its birth in the civif 
and religious despotisms of the ages past, and sprung from the same- 
womb as the "divine right of Kings," and established orders of 
Priests and Clergy, whose business it was to make the people quietly 
submit to this kingly divine right, by abusing and misdirecting the 
religious instinct inherent in our nature. 

This branch of their Amendment once incorporated, and our gov- 
ernment made theocratic thereby, the evangelical churches and min- 
isters being as they claim the only true and accredited interpreters, 
of God's will, will become an integral and indispensible part of the 
government, and their Church and the State indissolubly united ; and 
then, backed by the civil power, they will "let slip the dogs of war" on 
all who shall presume to dissent. Just such another despotism as 
our Fathers fled from. 

The second branch of their proposed Amendment, viz: "that the 
Lord Jesus Christ is the Ruler among Nations," I propose to ex- 
amine in my next. 

Yerv Respectfully, 
April 2i 7 1871. G. P. 

P. S. — -One word to such of your cotemporaries as favor a union, 
of Church and State by adopting this proposed Amendment—touch- 
ing anarchical France as she is to-day and was from 1789 to 1800, to 
which they significantly point. Is there a people in the world tha^ 
have been so priestridden, so priest-befooled and cheated, as the 
French from their earliest history ? Who that has studied at all the 
causes of their Revolution, commencing in 1789, does not know that 
it was the oppression and fraud practiced upon that impulsive and 
sentimental people, by successive Kings and their nobility, conspic- 
uously aided by a subsidized and corrupt priesthood, until human 
nature could bear no more ? and hence the reaction — the volcanic 
outburst of that period — sending these combined oppressors where 
they belonged ? and hence this condensed hatred towards the like 
unprincipled cheats at the present time. For authority I need only 
refer to the conservative Sir Walter Scott's life of Napoleon the 
First, American edition, by J. and R. Williams in 1834, Volume i, 
page 24, and subsequent. It belongs to us who oppose the intro- 
duction of the same causes into our government, to invoke the ex- 
ample of that suffering people as a warning, and not to those who> 
would wilfully or ignorantly introduce them. 



437 



[No. 3.] 

f HE AMENDMENT TO OUR NATIONAL CONSTITUTION 
— PROPOSED BY THE EVANGELICAL CHURCHES OF 
THE COUNTRY. 
Editors of Pan-Handle News : 

The second branch of the proposed Amendment is this: "The 
Lord Jesus Christ is the Ruler among the Nations." Is this propo- 
sition true ? If it is not, then no honest citizen can wish to see it 
incorporated in our Supreme Organic Law. Noah Webster defines 
the term Ruler thus : First, "one that governs, whether Emperor, 
King, Pope, or Governor ; any one that exercises supreme power 
over others." Second : "one that makes or executes laws in a limit- 
ed or free Government. Thus legislators or magistrates are called 
rulers." 

Now it is clear Jesus is not the ruler of nations in the sense and 
meaning of this definition. And it is also clear according to His 
four biographers, that during his sojourn on earth He uniformly re- 
nounced and disclaimed all Civil and Political power. "My King- 
dom is not of this world," was His constant asseveration, and to this 
all His acts conformed. Its utter falsity in this sense, therefore, is 
too obvious to justify comment. It can be true, if at all, in a spirit- 
ual sense only ; that He governs the hearts and guides the intellects 
of the people of nations in the making and administering of their 
laws. And now let us see how this is with our own American 
people ? 

To determine this, we must refer to His teachings and life as given 
by His biographers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and then to 
the laws, and practice of the Courts, through which the people ex- 
press their thoughts and feelings in governmental affairs, and see how 
the latter conforms to the former ; and if we find no conformity then 
will fihejr proposed Amendment be shown to be equally foreign and 
inapplicable in this last sense. I will refer to a few of the ethical 
teachings of Jesus, and then to our American legislation and practice 
on the same subjects. I refer, first, to His sermon on the Mount, 5th 
Matthew, from 33d to 37th verse, both inclusive. They read thus: 
verse 33d, "Again ye have heard it hath been said by those of old 



438 



time, thou shall not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the 
Lord thine oaths." 

Verse 34 : "But I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by Heav- 
en for it is God's throne ;" Verse 35 : "Nor by the earth, for it is 
God's footstool ; neither by Jerusalem for it is the City of the Great 
King." Verse 36 : "Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because 
thou canst not make one hair white or black." Verse 37 : "But let 
your communication be yea, yea, and nay, nay ; for whatsoever is 
more than this cometh of evil." 

Now this is plain language. No person of common sense can fail 
to understand its import. He tells us in the 33d verse that the prac- 
tice theretofore was to take oaths, calling God to witness. He then 
proceeds to abrogate, not only this practice, but all other oaths in 
which inferior objects are called on to witness. The pith and sub- 
stance of all is, using His own language, "swear not at all." 

Now, what is the practice of the professed Christian people of our 
Nation in this respect ? Do not all its officers, civil and military, from 
President to Town Constable, take an oath before entering upon the 
duties of his office, to be faithful, and calling upon the Supreme 
Ruler of the Universe to be witness ? And then how does he keep 
this oath afterwards ? No juror enters the box, nor witness takes the 
stand without taking a like oath. Nor an official act done under our 
system anywhere, but is done under a like sanction. This is done 
daily and hourly by all the so-called Christian sects, except Quakers 
and Moravians, who substitute an affirmation. 

Let us now advert to His teachings in regard to personal injuries, 
and injuries to rights of property. Matthew 5th, verse 39 : "But I 
say unto you that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee 
on thy right cheek turn to him the other also." Verse 40 : "And if 
any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have 
thy cloak also." Verse 41 : "And whosoever shall compel thee to 
go a mile, go with him twain." Verse 42 : "Give to him that asketh 
thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away." 

This is also plain language which no person can mistake. But 
what is the legislation and practice of our so called Christian people 
upon the same subjects ? Has not the people of every State a law 
and action for assault and battery against any one that slaps another 
in the face, or even attempts to, having the ability to hit, with exem- 
plary damages ? Do not these "Christian" people avail themselves 



hi this femefcfy-— matty after pitching in personally, instead of turning 
She other cheek ; and do not the Courts sustain and encourage these 
actions ? Has not each State its action for assault and false impris- 
onment ? And is there a "Christian" citizen in any of the States 
that would not av^il himself of it after being forced to go a mile, in- 
stead of volunteering to go another mile? Has not every State its 
laws to punish felonious, forcible, and even any wrongful taking an - 
other ones property, including cloaks, coats, &c, and what Court has 
ever adjusted a dispute by ordering the prosecutor or suiter to- give 
to the rogue who bad taken his coat, his cloak also ? Or of any 
prosecutor or suiter volunteering to adjust in that way ? What State 
has not its Usury laws to prevent its "Christian" citizens from extor- 
tion on the necessitous by exacting unconscionable interest for the 
loan of money ? And where is the "Christian" citizen that hesitates- 
to forclose a* mortgage and appropriate to himself property worth 
twice the amount due when he gets the chance 1 

I might touch upon all the moral duties and obligations, and show 
the practice of our "Christian" citizens as foreign and antagonistic to 
the teachings of Jesus as the foregoing. But those mentioned arc 
sufficient to illustrate and establish the truth of my proposition : thai; 
neither the example nor teachings of Jesus actuate the hearts, guide 
the intellects, or shape the legislation and practice of our "Christian"* 
people, in either Church or State, and therefore He could not in 
this be recognized as a Ruler of our nation without uttering what is- 
shown to be utterly false. Suppose I was about to travel through 
Japan and should be told before entering who the Emperor was, and 
have a copy of his laws placed in my hand, and on traveling through 
I should find as great antagonism between the laws, and the practice 
and habits of the people as that before shown, could I hesitate for a 
moment in concluding that it was not the author of these laws that 
reigned m Japan ? Should I not conclude there was some mistake ?' 

Other thoughts suggested by the foregoing comparison between 
the professions and acts of our "Christian" people I leave with the 
reader as they are not germain to my present inquiry. 

The spiritual Ideal presented by Jesus, our Brother,, to humanity 
more than eighteen centuries since, when science and philosophy 
were far behind what they are now; when "the light shown in dark- 
ness and the darkness comprehended it not when, as has since 
been, and is now, traffickers and speculators in religion and politics- 
sought to mammonize and use Him in their worldly, selfish schemes, 



440 



He indignantly exclaimed from the depths of the richest and purest 
soul, "my Kingdom is not of this world." A spiritual Ideal that, 
seen from our present undeveloped state it would seem, can never 
be excelled ; but nevertheless one altogether too Utopian and millen- 
ial to be made the Supreme Rule by which to govern our political 
affairs. Divest and disabuse Him of what king-craft arid priest-craft 
have woven around during the last 1545 years, open fearlessly the 
heart and head to the' reception of Truth coming from whatever 
source, the spirit of which Jesus tells us "alone makes free,"— deter- 
mine for ourselves what is Truth by "the God within the mind," and 
then practice it, and we shall not fail to feel the throb's of His great 
brotherly soul, with others, warming, quickening, and inspiring out 
whole being. When i\:merican citizens shall adopt this course of 
thinking and acting,- they may hope to gradually approach that state 
of earthly perfection when the real life and teachings of Jesus may 
properly be made supreme canons in civil Governments ; but not be- 
fore. 

In my next I will examine the third 1 branch of their proposed 1 
Amendment, viz : "that his revealed will, the Bible,- is the Supreme 
authority in £ Christian Government." 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

April 28, 1871. 



[No. I] 

THE AMENDMENT TO OUR NATIONAL CONSTITUTION 
—PROPOSED BY THE EVANGELICAL CHURCHES OF 
THE COUNTRY. 

Editors Pa?i-Handle News : 

The third branch of their proposed Amendment reads thus : "His 
fevealed will, the Bible; is the Supreme authority in a Christian Gov- 
eminent" 

If the reader has come to the conclusion that our people are not 
Christian in fact, but only in name, he may say, the branch proposed 
to be examined does not refer to them at all, and therefore it is use- 
less to examine it. But the reader must remember that the whole 
of their proposed Amendment is only another Ecclesiastical fiction/ 



\ 



441 



liaving no foundation in truth, or application in fact, but designed td 
overturn and displace by vague and airy mysticism, what is practical, 
Veal and true in our Institutions. To show, therefore, that such is the 
object of the proposed Amendment, it is strictly pertinent to examine 
I he nature of this branch of the same. 

As they assume oUf Government to be "Christian," they propose 
to make the book Called the Bible, the "Supreme authority"— (which 
Webster defines to be "supreme legal power,") in that Government ; 
and as there Can be but one "Supreme law," the Constitution made 
by Washington and his co-patriots,, State Constitutions, and all laws 
made in pursuance of these Constitutions, are to become subordinate ; 
and thereafter section second, article 6, of our National Constitution, 
will have to be changed so as to read as follows : 

"The book called the Bible, and the laws of the United States 
made in pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land ; 
and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in 
the National Constitution a>s it heretofore existed, or in the Constitu- 
tion and laws of any State, to the contrary notwithstanding." 

Such would be the inevitable consequence of an adoption of this 
branch of their proposed Amendment. 

Now suppose this should be adopted, and Congress and ou'r State 
Legislatures go on passing laws as they would of course, and the 
Constitutionality of these laws should be brought before the Federal 
or State Courts, as is now done so frequently — -by what standard 
would the Court have to decide the question ? Why of course the 
Bible, for that would then have become ''the Supreme law of the 
land," The word Bible is derived from the Creek word bibles, which 
means simply a book ; but custom has limited its meaning to such 
books only as the Ecclesiastics have at different times canonized, as 
having been written or inspired as they say, by Cod hiwfseif. Now, 
in this country we have at least three different versions : the He- 
brew, containing the Jewish writings only; the Catholic, containing 
what the Romish Church lias seen ill to canonize ; and then King 
JamEvS 1 version. The adherents to each version claim theirs to be the 
•only one genuine. Upon the language of King James' version, the 
Ecclesiastics put some hundred interpretations, and on these have 
established as many antagonizing sects. Now of all these, which 
Would our Courts have to adopt as live standard, o ! i sUpreitfe law, by 



which' to decide whether the law in question was Constitutional, of 
rather canonical, or not ? 

The first qpasrel would betO' deter rmne which of the three versions- 
should have' supremacy. This being a religious fight would take" 
from five- to thirty years ; when, in- a4l probability King James' version 
would receive^ the honor in this country. This settled, up springs-- 
from that version a rru r ncked< or more; competing sects-— all based ow 
as many different interpretations of the same" text in- the original lan- 
guage, if not English translation— ~eacb sect claiming to* have* the cor- 
rect interpretation- or translation ! And the matter having become' 
spiritual or biblical, of course the Ecclesiastics would ass inner exclu- 
sive jurisdiction^ and the Government would end in interminable an- 
archy, war and blood ! I challenge any man to show these conse- 
quences would not necessarily follow the adoption- of this branch of 
their proposed Amendment'. 

This is the fining the.- Evangelical ministers of the country have' 
lieen for years concocting^- They b?„-ve already gotten it adopted in< 
the form of resolutions by a large number of their sects throughout 
the country. They have reduced their proposed Amendment to the 
form" substantially that I have stated, and placed it m the hands of 
a> United States Senator to- lay before Congress. They have thereby- 
thrust it into the- arena of politics, challenging criticism, and are afr 
this moment,- from Bishop down- to Deacon- and Warden,, urging its- 
support upon the American people* by all the varied appliances known- 
to Jesuitism^ Their shibboleth is to arrest and put do w-n- Catholicism. 
With this, they hope to arouse- their flocks. They speak- weekly — - 
nay tri-weekly from 60,000- pulpits, at a cost of at least ninety millions- 
a year, derived from- our- people, and no- one to answer them. They 
run a religious press at an annual cost to the same people of five millions- 
more, in which not a word is admitted adverse to their- treasonable- 
scheme. They hold under the rod nearly all the secular press of the 
country,, that,, as- a general thing might as well be employed in- repub- 
lishing, old almanacs, as the- way they are,, so far- as protecting the 
Government in- this respect is- concerned ; and- still, some r I under- 
stand, complain because I- have raised- my humble protest, and you,. 
Mr. Editor, have dared to publish ! I- ask them- to answer fairly, if 
they can, the objections I have statedUo 1 their proposed' Amendment,, 
and when that is done, I will proceed to state more. I do not feel 
justified to ask further privilege in your paper,, or- attention of the^ 
reader, until this is clone. A critical examination- of the history and- 



44o 



character ©f King James' version will come next in the line of argu- 
ment I have proposed. I fully appreciate the religious prejudice of 
pure!)' artificial growth, that clusters around that Book, which they 
.ask to rill so exalted a place in our National Polity, and nothing but 
imperative sense ef political duty will induce me to disturb it. I hope 
Che future course of the friends of the proposed Amendment will save 
sase iiise unwelcome task, 

¥erv .Respectfully, 

•G. P. 

.May 5, a 8^4, 



[No, t.j 

THE EllQTOSE© CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION- 
SHOULD IT BE CALLED— THE ADDRESS OF THE 
S TATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OE THE DEMOCRAT- 
IC PARTY TO THE PEOPLE. 

Mrfitors £*itn-ManMe A T ews : 

It was .perhaps well enough for the last Legislature to arrange to 
take -the sense of the People on calling a Convention, in accordance 
with one »of the wise provisions ol our present Constitution, that per- 
mits no body of men to take control of their Constitution without 
their express order and consent being first obtained. Though after 
the Eliok Asnewdment was passed and the disfranchised restored, 
there was «o very obvious necessity for the Legislature making such 
arrangement at present, as the fitness of the present Constitution has 
as yet been but partially tried and tested; and the admission of the 
disfranchised upon their own solicitation into the new Edifice, accept- 
ing it of course in the condition they found it— furnished no ground. 
As well might a boy or a dozen of them when arriving of age, or a 
company of immigrants, or men relieved of Political Disabilities 
through the Governor's pardon, claim as a right, to have the People 
order a Convention to be convened and the Constitution altered to 
suit their taste. That class of the enfranchised that went to the 
Front in the late War, and thereby established the sincerity of their 



444 



profession by staking their lives, so regard the matter, as the recent 
manly and ingenuous statements of the Editor of the Cabell County 
Press, fully attests. He was a brave Confederate soldier, and is :i 
Representative man among that class, who oppose the Convention 
as unnecessary at this time, and laughs at the foolish hypocritical 
claims of the Politicians now on their account, when the same men 
either openly opposed the Flick Amendment, or absented themselves 
from the Polls ; and among these the Editors of the two Democratic 
papers which are now most clamorous for a Convention, for the sake 
of these poor Confederate soldiers who were necessarily absent they 
say when the present Constitution was formed — but in fact for t he- 
sake of the fat paying business as public printers, they expect from 
the scheme if accomplished. This class of the late Confederate 
soldiers that were at the front, I honor and esteem, and if there 
really existed any defects requiring a Convention to remedy, and 
they should ask it — I would be among the-fvrst to aid them, on the 
ground that our future interests and hopes were to be the same. 

The only pertinent question now is : is it wise and proper for the 
voters to order a Convention — and this depends, I submit, on this 
further question : "Has practical experiment so far, disclosed such 
defects, otherwise irremidable, in our State Constitution, as warrants 
the People to call a Convention to revise and remodel it ; and incur 
thereby the great expenditure of time and money that will be 
required." 

This is the question addressed to all the present voters irrespec- 
tive of antecedents, and no man who duly appreciates its nature ? 
magnitude and far reaching consequences that are to follow, will re- 
gard it as a partisan question, but one rising above ail party consid- 
erations. 

The Address above referred to, has the appearance of having been 
prepared with great study and care, inspired by persons in the way of 
whose aspirations, and fossil prejudices the present Constitution man- 
ifestly stands-— and hence, among other aspersions, it is styled the 
"odious and unjust Constitution so this address can be safely taken 
as stating all the defects and weaknesses that can possibly be con- 
jured up against the Instrument. These I propose briefly to notice. 
I shall confine myself to those defects specifically charged, and pass 
unnoticed the general denunciations and slang which any blackguard 
can utter. I thought it a little singular that the Executive Committee 



445 

of one of the political parties, should address the whole voters irre- 
spective of party, declaring it to be their conviction it should not be 
regarded as a party question — and then in a few sentences after, 
treat it purely as a party question, and urge its party to turn out 
and vote for the Convention — assigning as a reason, that the Repub- 
licans in the Legislature voted against submitting the question at all 5 
and their press since had opposed the Convention. How these state- 
ments can be reconciled with honesty and straightforwardness, I can't 
see — others may. But to their specific charges. 

i st. They charge that since the people have put their party "par- 
tially" in possession of the Government, it is indispensable they 
should be put in possession of the whole ; and a prime object of 
their Convention, I presume, is to rotate the present incumbents out. 
Their motives and feelings are patent, but how the public is to be 
benefitted by the operation, is not so clear ; though they say "we owe 
it to ourselves as well as the whole people to see to it that we are not 
found wanting in this our first administration of its affairs. " "Found 
wanting" in what ? The natural inference is from what precedes in 
their address, it is in the devilment they have just been charging on 
their opponents. It would seem unnecessary for them to have pro- 
claimed with so much emphasis their fixed determination in this re- 
spect. The people already anticipate as much, judging from their 
conduct last winter. 

2nd. They charge in their indictment that the present Constitution 
was framed "amid the conflict of arms and throes of Revolution." 
This might have been the case where they were at the time, but there 
was nothing of it at Wheeling to disturb the deliberations of the Con- 
vention that framed the present Constitution. And still it must be 
acknowledged, there were eminent dangers and uncertainties hanging 
over the Nation at the time, that impressed its members with feelings 
akin to those felt when the Declaration of Independence was first 
proclaimed, and when our National Constitution was formed. Cir- 
cumstances that cause men of whatever experience and capacity to 
have a lively sense of responsibility, and to act honestly and earnest 
ly in whatever work engaged. Again, they say "those who framed it 
were few in number, representing but a small portion of our terri- 
tory." This is untrue. 

The number of Delegates exceeded fifty, and all the Counties ex- 
cept Greenbrier, Monroe and Jefferson were represented. The able 



446 

Editor of the Monroe County Register, a Democratic paper, who very 
likely was another Confederate soldier who went to the front — tells us 
in an article copied m the Wheeling Intelligencer of the 9th ins*., how 
the people of his grand old County feel in relation to the necessity 
for calling a Conveatiora. I wish I bad room to quote it— 'tis so much 
better than anything I can say. It may not be amiss to mention some 
•of the present leading men of both political parties ttaat were leading 
members of that Convention. The Hon. Bent. H, .Smith, Hon. 
Daniel Lamb, Hon, John Hall. Would these men who now stand 
at the head of the Democratic party -of the State, make a Constitution 
that was "odious and unjust?" 

There were also, Hon. W. T. Willey, Hon.. Peter G. Van Winkle, 
Hon. James H. Brown, late President of the Court of Appeals, Ex- 
Governor Stevenson, Hon. Lewis Rufener.; Circuit Court Judges, 
Hons. E. B. Hall, Robert Ervine, Chapman J.. Stewart, John A, 
D.ille, Thomas W. Harrison, the late E. H. Caldwell ; also Judge 
Soper, Hon. John J.. Brown, Hon. James W. Paxton, the late Rev. 
'Gordon Battelle, Rev. Joseph S. Pomeroy, Rev. T. H. Trainer 
and others equally earnest and patriotic, though of Jess celebrity. 
Think these men, circumstanced as they were, would have made a 
Constitution deserving to be styled "odious and unjust !" And by 
whom ? Let the accusers answer, and reveal their own individual 
ihistory during that trying period. But I return to the indictment. 

They further charge that after eight years experience, portions of 
ithe Constitution have been "demonstrated to be un.suited, very costly 
and unwieldy, and can be so altered as to greatly simplify and save 
much money." Where is the evidence of any such practical demon- 
stration ? I aver, and am prepared to maintain, that the Government 
•when administered in accordance with the letter and spirit of the 
present Constitution, is the simplest and cheapest among the States 
of the Union. The expensiveness heretofore, is wholly attributable 
to vicious legislation, creating superfluous offices to quarter partisans 
on, and to fraudulent and careless management — none of which find 
countenance or warrant in any part of our present Constitution. All 
which abuses, the Legislature possesses the amplest power to reme- 
dy ; and when I voted the Democratic ticket last fall, it was with the 
expectation a Democratic Legislature if elected, would at once reme- 
dy the monstrous evils they had so long and so justly complained of. 
Still they failed to do it to any considerable extent, but started the 
scheme for a Convention, and the politician portion purposely retain- 



447 



ed this vicious legislation, and sought to defeat the Flick Amendment: 
and postpone enfranchisement, so that by the combined use of the 
two, they would get a Convention. The Flick Admendment, thank 
God, they did not defeat, and now they are most sedulously striving, 
to foist this* vicious legislation upon the Constitution and make the- 
people believe it grew there as its natural fruit. Tis a contemptible 
scheme and worthy of its autfeors. The manifold abuses hitherto, 
are no more the legitimate fruit of the present Constitution, than tur- 
key buzzards arc the legitimate fruit of the grand, sturdy oak on; 
Which they mmy happen to perch. 

Very Respectfully,. 

G. P. 

June i6tb, 287$. 



[Mo. 2\j 

THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION— 
SHOULD IT BE CALLED— THE ADDRESS OF THE 
S TATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE DEMOCRAT- 
IC PARTY TO THE PEOPLE. 

Editors Pan- Handle News :■ 

The question is : "Has pfactsica) experiment so far, disclosed such' 
defects, otherwise irremidible, in our State Constitution as warrants* 
Ihe people to* call a Convention to revise and remodel it ; and incur' 
thereby the great expenditure of time and money that will be re- 
quired V* Commencing, then, where: I left off in my last number: 

3. Their next charge is : the great wrong for the people to refuse- 
So call a Convention for the accommodation' of the recently enfran- 
chised. About this I have already said sufficient. The class that 
went to the Front have the good sense no* to ask lor it ; while the 
other class, the skulking, cowardly politicians, who- a^re the- sole movers- 
in this matter, do not deserve to be gratified, unless they show good 
and sufficient cause exists outside of themselves- 

4, Their next specific charge is, that Sec. 9,- of Art. 4, of the pres- 
ent Constitution, confines the apportionments for choosing Delegates,, 
lhat are to be made after each United States Census— to "white" 
population!, omitting colored, who have since become citizens and 
voters. The editor of the Monroe Register, in the article before re- 
ferred to, answers this so satisfactory, that I prefer to- adopt his lan - 



gliclge in his reply to the Greenbrier County Editor, viz* : "In teplf 
we beg his attention to Art. i,Sec. 7, of the Constitution, viz: "Every 
citizen shall be entitled to equal representation in the Government :- 
and in all apportionments of representation, equality in numbers of 
those entitled thereto, as far as practicable shall be preserved." 

"Under the Fourteenth Amendment accepted by West Virginia, is 
not the negro a citizen, and Under the Flick Amendment recently 
adopted, does not our Constitution make him a citizen t It is not 
necessary to be an opponent of the Constitution, to settle that ques- 
tion." 

The 9th Sec. of Art. 4, on which our cotemporary rests his posi- 
tion, must be construed as conflicting with the now recognized "Su- 
preme Law," and is therefore null and void, as far as race is concerned. 

This disposes of that count in their indictment. The importance 
they attach to this count the reader may judge by the way they close 
it, viz : "the bare statement of this fact should be sufficient to con- 
vince the most skeptical of the necessity for a change in this regard." 
What change could possibly give in this respect, what is not already 
possessed through the Federal and our present State Constitution, as 
already amended. 

5. Their next charge is, that the negro is not by the Constitution 
chargeable with a poll tax ; while the "white" man is. Article 8, 
Section 2, of the Constitution which was formed before the negro was 
freed, provides that "white male inhabitants" of twenty-one years of 
age shall pay a capitation tax of $1.00; but no where forbids the 
Legislature imposing a like tax on the negro. After the latter be- 
came free, in 1864, our Legislature imposed a like tax on male 
negroes of twenty-one years of age f and have .continued to do so ever 
since, and th& negroes have paid without objection. See Code of 
West Virginia^ page 21 1, and session acts. 1864, page 16. Having, 
now become citizens and voters, to which under our Institution, the 
obligation to pay taxes attaches, it is just and right they should pay y 
and in their present status the Legislature has the unquestionable 
right by the Constitution to impose the tax-— =being no where prohib- 
ited in that Instrument from doing so ; and if it were otherwise, how 
easily the Constitution might be amended in this respect by the mode 
the Flick Amendment was accomplished, without any additional ex- 
penditure of time or money — the Ratification taking place at the 
same time the general election is held-. But it is clear there is no- 



'♦itvessUy for doing ibis even. If this imposition of the tax on the' 
v.egro, since 1864, has been unconstitutional, why did not the last 
Legislature repeal the law ? 

6. Their next claim is, that the judiciary system should be reform- 
ed "in totOj" by which they mean, tore out, and one of their liking 
put in the place. Their animus for this is disclosed in the forepart 
•of the address before referred to s where they say they have but "par- 
tial" possession of the Government^ and the public good impera- 
tively requires they should have the whole-, All the present judicial 
officers from President -of Court of Appeals to Justices of the Peace, 
are to be "reformed" or rotated out by their regenerated Constitu- 
tion, and members of their Rings are to be rotated in. Heilce they 
are lavish and fierce in their denunciations of this branch; They 
charge the present incumbents with "weakness and inemciencv." 
They charge that their decisions have been made from "partisan 
feelings and favortisms^" and become "subjects of jibe and jest," 
that the Legislature has had to remove two of the judges. They 
arraign the system itself as having failed to secure either "honesty^ 
faithfulness^ or capability^' and then complain because our Constitu- 
tion gives to a bare majority elected to the Legislature powe^ to re- 
move any judge for "misconduct, incompetence or neglect of duty> 
•or conviction of any infamous offence." But they insist that the re- 
generated Constitution that is to rotate themselves in, shall have high 
bars to keep themselves when once rotated in; from the "mere brute 
force of the Legislature" — as they term it^ requiring a majority Of 
toot less than ti6i)-ikirds of the Legislature to reach them, however 
•unfit they might prove or become. 

Now this is about their view of this branch. Their imputations 
*lpon the present incumbents are altogether unmerited and unjust. 
And their suggestions of Reform are irreconcilable and conflicting. 
They complain of unfaithful Judges in one breath, and in the next 
breath complain because our Constitution provides a speedy and ef- 
fectual way to get rid of such wnfit and unworthy Judges. Their 
suggestions are a senseless jumble^ designed only to humbug the peo- 
ple, and rotate the present incumbents out; and themselves in ; and 
ihen put up high bars to keep the people and their "brute Legisla- 
ture" at *a distance J Otfr Judges are elected for terms of six and, 
twelve years, while oui Legislators are elected annually, and are of 
course more immediately responsible to the people, their masters 
This is why the people intrust the Legislature with this corrective 



rod 



power over the Courts. No faithful and upright Judge has cause' to 1 
fear, but one of the opposite character has cause to fear: And B 
submit, it is wise and right that the people should retain this power"' 
over their Courts-. Absolve any men from responsibility for their ac- 
tions, and they become Tyrants. I here quote again, from the editor 
©f the Momoe' Register': "Again regarding the reforms of the Judi- 
ciary;, the laws delay is the great complaint. We are persuaded that 
the Ban has the corrective entirely in its control. Moreover a speedy' 
execution of justice may be secured,, by fhe institution of County 
Judges of competent jurisdiction holding monthly sessions."' - A* 
specific amendment passed in. the- way the Flick was r will insure this.' 
But the Legislature possesses unlimited power to increase the num- 
ber of Circuits and Circuit Judges, if found to be needed;, without 
any change in the present' Constitution— power to make each County 
s* Circuit with a separate Circuit Judge, if required. 

7> Their next claim for a Convention is to adopt the scheme of 
representation which secures to the minority a certain' amount of 
representation, The scheme is new and untried ; it has just been' 
put on trial in some of the States. It would hardly pay for our peo- 
ple- to incur the <sost of a- Convention for the sake of embarking in a* 
mere experiment. 

I again quote from* our Monroe friend his remarks on the township' 
system and the ballot : "The Constitution only provides six officers* 
in each Township, A few of them only receive nominal compensa- 
tion. We consider the Township system* as" the model of local self- 
government and eminently American and Democratic. Objection is* 
made to the ballot. We reply,. God help the poor citizen should its- 
friendly shelter be torn- from his homestead! Does any sane -mam 
believe that any proprietor in the Greenbrier valley would hesitate to- 
annihilate an unfortunate dependant, who would dare to oppose 1 his 
will by a manly (!) viva voce," No,"" at the Polls ? Nobody in 
Monroe believes that with a christian faith, we know.- It wiil not take- 
twenty years as our cotemporary says to put fifty Amendments- 
through the Legislature. Article i-s, of the Constitution, places- hop 
restriction on the number that may be proposed simultaneously." He- 
refers here of course to specific Amendments proposed by the' Leg- 
islature, and carried through as the Flick Amendment was. 

This gentleman is not a resident of Wheeling, or Charleston,, but' 
of an Eastern border County in the midst of those "sparsely settled' 
districts" where the Address tells us the Township system is sc 



451 



sansulted and hateful. Can we hesitate which party's testimony we 
©ugbt to take ? And then, his estimate of the importance of the 
ballot to every poor man in the State, compared with the Old Vir- 
ginian "viva voce." What honest heart does not respond to the 
•entire truth of what he says in this respect. The politicians sigh for 
die return of the old '"viva voce," that enabled them to hold the poor 
and dependant, subject to their will, when -exercising the elective 
franchise. I have seen this purse power practiced in more States 
than <s> ie. 

I have now answered I think all their specific charges, upon which 
they declare our present Constitution to be "odious and unjust," and 
.ask for a Convention to remedy it. There is no ground, I submit, for 
a Convention — absolutely none ; but only a necessity for the people 
electing an honest Legislature and demanding that it -repeal all 
vicious, unnecessary laws, abolish all superfluous offices, and bring 
the Administration of the Government to that simplicity and econ- 
omy, which the present Constitution contemplates, in all its depart- 
ments, including the School system. 

In my next I will endeavor to show the disastrous consequences, 
and the vast expenditure of time and money, that must follow a 
.sanction by the people, of the wild and wholly uncalled for scheme, 
of these politicians. 

Very Respectfully, 

G, P. 

June 23, 1871. 



[No. 34 

THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL CON V KNTION— 
SHOULD IT BE CALLED — THE ADDRESS OF THE 

• STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE DEMOCRAT- 
IC PARTY TO THE PEOPLE. 

Editors Pan-Handle News ; 

As the people may not all of them be conversant with Article 12, 
of our present Constitution, that provides the two modes for amend- 
ing the same, I will briefly explain them : 

Section 1, provides that no Convention shall be called for amend- 
ing the same unless the people by a majority of the votes cast at an 



4M 



election for the purpose, shall order it; and if ordered, the dejegfattfs 
thereto shall not be chosen earlier than a month at least after the? 
vote ordering, is officially declared. The final work of the Conven- 
tion is not to be valid until submitted to the people and by them 
ratified. 

Section 2, provides that the Legislature may at at»y time by a 
majority thereof propose "any amendments to the Constitution/' and 
such proposed amendments are to be published in the papers, 
throughout the State, three months at least before the election of the 
succeeding Legislature, which can approve or disapprove ; and if the 
former, it is its duty to submit the same at such time as it shall deem 
best, to the people for ratification, or rejection. If two or more such 
specific amendments be submitted at the same time, the vote on the 
ratification or rejection shall be taken on each separately. This 
last is the mode in which the Flick Amendment was accomplished. 

Now if the first mode is adopted by the people ordering a Con - 
vention, they commit and surrender absolutely the whole Constitution 
into the hands and absolute control of such Convention, to do with 
it as it chooses, with this single proviso, that the Convention shall 
submit its "final work" to the people to be adopted as a whole, or 
rejected as a whole, without the power of adopting such parts as 
shall suit them, and rejecting the rest. And hence the Legislature 
In its law last winter submitting the question, defines the powers and 
duties of the Convention in this respect, if one be ordered, in these 
words : "to consider, discuss, and propose a new Constitution, or 
alterations and Amendments to the existing Constitution of the State.'" 
See Section 57, of that Act; also Section 2Q> same Act ; "The Con- 
vention shall provide by ordinance or otherwise for submitting the 
said Constitution" (meaning its "final work") "to the people for rat - 
ification or rejection," as a whole of course. The people of West 
Virginia certainly will not put themselves in this disadvantageous con- 
dition in relation to their organic law, unless there is shown to exist 
some urgent, adequate necessity for doing it. Have the politicians 
shown that necessity to exist ? But then, they tell us if we don't like 
the "final work" of the Convention sufficiently to adopt it as a whole, 
we can reject — which will leave the Constitution just as it is now ; 
they will have had a glorious jollification and nobody will have beet* 
hurt. Ah ! but who will have to pay the cost of their grand farce ? 
of course we the tax-payers. 

Whereas if the second mode be adopted, whenever particular 



453 



aiHendmetlts shall be shown by experience to be wanted, any Legis- 
lature can propose any number of specific amendments, of these the 
subsequent Legislature, having been chosen with reference to the 
pending proposed amendments, can approve or disapprove all, any, 
or none, and in case any be appproved, it becomes its duty to sub- 
mit such as are approved to the people at the next general election, 
or earlier if the exigency requires ; when the people will have the 
right to adopt or reject such as they choose ; and incur no additional 
expense whatever — and will all the while hold in their own hands and 
exclusive control, their Constitution, instead of yielding it up as is 
now proposed, to the tender mercies of the politicians, to revel over, 
in a gratification of their varied and in most cases, hostile feelings. 
In any ordinary business matter, would any prudent man hesitate 
which mode to adopt ? The amending of our Constitution when 
shown to require it, is purely a practical business matter, of the high- 
est importance. But let us see for a moment what consequences 
must follow their proposed scheme if carried out. The Address 
specially proposes to "reform" (which means change) "in toto," the 
whole Judiciary system, and root out the entire township which has 
now become so intimately interwoven with our whole system of State 
polity. These changes, if they should go no further, will necessitate 
another new Code of laws — of the time and money required for this, 
our people have had some experience of late. I know the politicians 
tell us the mother State revised her Constitution in 1829, and again 
in 1850, and in neither case had a new Code made. I answer, neither 
of these Conventions made Radical changes in the organic structure 
of her State polity. They only modified to some extent her basis of 
representation, and changed the mode of appointing some of her 
officers. Her case, therefore, is no guide to us, for our politicians 
propose to knock our present judiciary system and township system 
out of the Constitution altogether ; and all portions of the present 
Code that rest upon the parts removed, must of necessity fall and 
perish with them. A new Code conforming to their regenerated Con- 
stitution would become absolutely necessary to get ourselves out of 
the legal chaos (so grateful to lawyers and politicians) which their 
scheme if allowed to progress, must necessarily produce. 

But the politicians as appears from their press and talk, don't pro- 
pose to stop where their address stops — but propose abolishing the 
Free School system and the ballot — restoring the old viva voce ; also 
to remove the present Constitutional restriction that prevents the 



454 



Legislature going into the same "log-rolling system" that bankrupted 
the old State under the specious pretext of making "Internal Im- 
provements." Behold the old State with her forty-five millions of 
debt, and then its product or result in her present internal improve- 
ments, which in fact never received but a small portion of the money — 
the bulk having gone into the pockets of her corrupt politicians. 
Look to the product of this her vast expenditure, that remains within 
our own Territory, and compare that product with what has been 
done, and is doing, by individual capital and enterprise under the 
present policy of the Mew State ; the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad 
for instance, which in a year and a half will be completed throughout 
our State, and connect the waters of the Chesapeake with the Ohio. 
To accomplish which the old State had labored through her politi- 
cians for forty years, and had accomplished — -w T hat ? But one thing is 
certain if our people after so much labor and so much expenditure 
during the last ten years in bringing our system of polity and Juris- 
prudence to the point it is now in, and as now evidenced by our new 
Code, containing the Constitution on which it is based, now, or soon 
to be, in the hands of capitalists and business men throughout the 
country— securing their general approval and confidence as I have 
reason to believe — shall now idiotic like sanction the scheme propos- 
ed by the politicians, and go to work tearing everything up when 
there exists no cause whatever— we shall forfeit the good opinion and 
confidence of that class of men so essential to the future of the 
State. They would as soon invest money in anarchial Paris, as in 
West Virginia, while controlled by a people that should act so in- 
sanely. 

The politicians also complain that the present Constitution imposes 
too many restrictions on their powers ; that it is a "Code of laws," 
when it should be only "a declaration of principles" — by which they 
mean — "glittering generalities," that they may construe to mean yes, 
or no, black or white, as may suit their corrupt purposes. Now, if 
there exist defects in this respect, it is because the present Constitu- 
tion imposes too few, instead of too many, of these safe-guards to 
our civil and religious rights. 

Moreover, the "regenerated" Constitution they propose, is to un- 
seat every present holder of office in the State. 'Tis impossible for 
them to confine their process of rotating out — (the prime object of 
their move) to political opponents, but political friends, even those 
elected last fall for two and four years, and as yet hardl}' warm in 



f heir seats, must of necessity share the same fate. Will these appre 
ciate the necessity of the politicians move ? But the politicians are 
active giving assurance throughout the State that they will take care 
to save political friends. How save ? Trust them not. They have 
not the power to save, if they would, when their ponderous rotating 
machine is once set agoing. The- only safety of such' a«s> are in* ex- 
posed positions, lies kv preventing the starting of their machine, by 
turning out and voting, clown the Convention. They have no safety' 
in any ©the? course. Sse a»d ponder well the 17th and 20th sections' 
of the law before quoted, defining the* powers and duties of the Con 
vention, if sailed. 

One wo?d now respecting the cost of their scheme should it be ac- 
complished,- in which as a tax-pays? I feel' a lively interest. Last 
winter as an= auxiliary for getting the Legislature to* submit the ques- 
tion, a partisan* committee was appointed to report the probable cost 
of carrying tbjo-egh the scheme proposed not including the new 
Code, I presume ; and this committee reported the total cost aft 
$37,503— but omitted to give us the cents ! The entire unreliability 
©f estimates gotten up by politicians when they seek to get the Legis- 
lature and people committed to a favorite scheme,, is felt and known 
to all. Those that have been made for building the Penitentiary, and 
completing the Insane Hospital,- are fresh in the minds of all. The' 
cost of advertising and printing and holding the required elections by 
the people, and the Convention, to cost only thirty-seven- thousand 
five hundred and three dollars ! Why the present Public Printers- 
confidently expect to realize much rtoore than that fo* their share of 
the spoils. And then add for The new Code a proportionate sum !- 
Why only tfoiwk,- our present Cod® went k*o the- mill in 1863, was- 
constantly beings elaborated in some form< by well paid agents, and 
came out about two mon>ths since,- requiring, a period from seven to- 
eight years, and' costing, over one hundred- thousand dollars ! And 
now the politicians modestly propose to knock both the Constitution- 
and that in the; head, and start de now. 

The official estimate made by Gov. Stevenson- last winter will not 
prove far out of the way. He certainly could not have had any per- 
sonal motive to have overstated, and his large experience in such- 
matters, his ample means for obtaining correct data, with- his known- 
care and accuracy of judgment — the personal and official responsibil- 
ity on which he made the statement, entitle it in my judgment, to the 
dullest credit. He estimated the total cost, reckoning, both money 



Sftd time (for business men reckon time as money) at about $$$6@®%t 
x-39 of which, or nine thousand dollars will be Brooke County's share- 
which the tax-payers will have to pay— and for what, let me in all ; 
earnestness ask my fellow voters and tax-payers ? Suppose the town- 
ship system was premature at the start in some of our sparsely settled 
districts (which I certainly am not prepared to admit,) the system has 
become so interwoven with our entire State polity, including the 
Code, that it cannot now be torn out without lacerating and disem- 
boweling the entire body politic, the restoration of which will require- 
many years of persistent labor? and expenditure of vast sums of 
money.- The genius of Jefferson originated the system in 1782, un- 
der the name of "wards," as embodying his ideal of a pure and per- 
fect Democracy. Out of respect to his memory no tr&e Democrat 
should too hastily Cease his labor to realize that great main's ideal — * 
especially when it is being so fully realised in all the great States ort 
OUf North and West Let us then continue to advance in the direc- 
tidti we have started. Let the Legislature abolish superfluous offices, 
and repeal unnecessary, vision's laws,- and bring at once the adminis- 
tration of the Government to harmonize with the simplicity and econ- 
omy the present Constitution contemplates ; amend and improve our 
organic law as experience shall show' it is required)- in the mode the 
Flick Amendment was carried through, imitating more closely the 
organic laws bf which the old free States have attained to their present 
greatness — instead of turning, back, as the politicians propose, and 
resuming for our young and vigorous State, an obsolete organism 
fashioned in the interest of slavery, that is now abolished. 

"Let the dead past bury its dead, 
Act — act with *h* kvvr^ present, 
Heart within, and God o'er head." 

Mark one thing: if either political party commits itself to the uh- 
necessary^ but purely selfish scheme of these politicians, it will be 
sunk beyond hope of recovery by its weight before' it gets through* 
With it ; and meantime) from its length of tail and many stings, it will 
be painful to any party to handle. 

Yerv Respectfulljr.- 

G. P, 

June 30,- 1871* 

I afterward? published through the West Virginia J&nrpal oi 
July 1-2, and the Wheeling Intelligencer of August 5, 187 1, what I 
hoped would satisfactorily answer the specious claims for a Com en- 



457 



ttott, made by judge Ferguson, Col. B. H. Smith and others, at a 
large meeting held at the Capital, and by the Hon. C. J. Faulkner 
at a like meeting at Martinsburg ; but I was mistaken. The Gov- 
ernor proclaimed the result of the election the Fourth Thursday of 
August, 1871, to be 30,320 for the call, and 27,638 against — 2,582 
majority in an aggregate vote of 57,858, and this after the colored 
people and ex-rebels had been enfranchised, and were free to vote. 

Delegates subsequently chosen, assembled in Convention at the 
Capital the third Tuesday of January following, formed and sub- 
mitted for Ratification the fourth Thursday of August following, the 
present modified Constitution. During the canvass I submitted 
through the Press the following remarks 1 



[No* t.] 

THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION, TO RE VOTED ON THE 
FOURTH THURSDAY IN AUGUST. 

Editors Wheeling Intelligencer 

Myself with other unprejudiced and unaspiring tax-payers opposed 
the calling of the Convention, for the reason we were unable to see 
any necessity for the expenditure of the time and money that would 
be required. A Convention, however, was called, as appeared by 
official proclamation, by a very small majority of those voting. 

I have always regarded the making, or altering of a Constitution, in 
no sense a party question ; and though political, as one of such trans- 
cendent importance, and the instrument of such permanent character — 
to shape in a greater or less degree the future organism of the State 
after we are in our graves and present political parties are extinct — 
as to imperatively demand of every honest citizen to lay aside all the 
little party prejudices, schemes and aspirations of the present hour, 
and approach the subject simply as a citizen and a man, who has the 
future welfare of his State, and posterity, as well as himself, to care 
for. 

Entertaining these views I need not say with what regret, nay, dis- 
gust, I regarded the personal appeals to the most selfish passions of 
the voters that the Convention make in order to induce an adoption, 
of their work. From their resort to such unworthy means, we may 
1 1 3 



0§ 

safely infer their own estimate of the intrinsic merit of the work tfrey" 
offer. It is always the venders of spurious articles — known to be" 
spurious-— -that resort to toworthy means, 

The great a rod solemn- duty of adopting, or rejecting a proposed 
new or greatly modified Constitution-, would seem to merit an election-' 
for that purpose alone without coupling with it so rnany sordid ancf 
purely selfish attractions 

I propose briefly to notice some o-f the objectionable features of the 
proposed instrument. Irv the first plaice, it is nearly £wice as long as % 
our present Constitution; Truth and true principles- are always con- 
sistent and harmonious, and require only a few right words to express 
them, as our Federal Constitution so strikingly illustrates.- 'Tis the 
enunciation of false principles, and untruths, always contradictory — * 
that require an endless string of words in order to conceal the defects 
and give a show of plausibility and decency. 

The - second clause of section 2, article >, enunciates Calhoun's* 
dogma of nullification and secession-, Which has proved the source of 
so much national afid individual sacrifice and wofe. I>o they suppose 
that we the people of the State, who alone hold the- sovereign power,, 
are going to intrust to the Legislative, Executive or Judicial servants- 
that may be chosen from time to time — to decide for us whether in* 
any case the Federal Government has encroached^ on the rights re- 
served to States or the people respectively ; and if our State servants^ 
decide affirmatively, then making it "their high and solemn duty to* 
guard and protect us against such encroachments." How are the ; 
State servants going to do this, unless in the way the officers of South 
Carolina attempted in- 1832 ? This ivny M>r. Webster pointed out to 
Mr. Haynes in his celebrated reply to that gentleman in 1830. No,, 
I should think our people had' got enough of the bitter fruits of that 
fatal heresy already. In any act of the Federal Government that 
shall' encroach on our reserved- rights the people of all the other 
States will be equally interested ; and with them= as co-sovereigns, the 
sovereigns of our- State must unite and put the Federal agent right — • 
and not make it, as proposed, the "high and solemn duty" of upstart 
politicians that may for the time compose our Legislature— to involve 
the people of our State in a war with the Federal Government. I 
have been informed that a distinguished friend of the proposed Con- 
stitution in the lower end of the State, advises not to vote for exclu- 
ding colored people from holding office, because if done, Congress 
may undertake to reconstruct West Virginia. Would not the adop- 



459 



Ci&Ti of the old nullification and secession dogma be more likely lb 
induce that process ? Do they really think that any of us who were 
jloyal to the Government during the late rebellion, will now consent to 
place in our Constitution the same old heresy that has led to nullifi- 
cation, secession and rebellion ? 

Sec, 5, Art. 2 places .resident aliens on the same footing with citi- 
zens as respects the purchase, holding, descent and disposal of the 
elands within our State. I shall only suggest the door that the adop- 
tion of this would open. It would make it possible for every foot of 
.land in our State to become owned by persons owing allegiance to 
•some foreign power, and of course none to our Government ; and to 
transmit the same by descent, the same as citizens, to such kin as by 
our law would be his legal heirs—regardless of the Government they 
owed allegiance to, or where they reside. Suppose every other State 
in the Union should adopt a similar provision, and the subjects of the 
European powers should undertake to largely buy up our lands — how 
would our National Government stand affected in case of a war with 
these European powers ? It would find the lands within its jurisdic- 
tion, through State action, transferred to and owned by persons owing- 
allegiance, not to itself, but to the powers it was warring against. Not 
owing allegiance they would be incapable of committing treason — for 
which alone forfeitures are allowed under the Federal Constitution, 
Is it likely the Federal Government would allow State provisions like 
the one proposed, to be very extensively carried out? I think not, 
Moreover, it does away with one of the strongest inducements for- 
eigners have to become naturalized citizens, as it allows them the 
fullest control of our lands, while they remain aliens and foreigners. 

As the getters up of the wholly uncalled for Convention — as the 
result has shown, which unprejudiced and unaspiring voters opposed 
from the first — have become divided between Camden and Jacob, 
and bitterly hostile as would seem — the latter should consent to vote 
for neither of the rival candidates without first having assurance that 
those they shall aid will aid them in voting down the Constitutional 
humbug. The Conventionists last winter formed the Camden ring, 
the same time they did the proposed Constitution. Let honest men 
unite and crush both. 

Very Respectfully, 

&, }\ 

July 16, 1872. 



4(50 



[No. 2.] 

THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION, TO BE VOTED ON THE 
FOURTH THURSDAY IN AUGUST. 

Editors Wheeli?ig Intelligencer : 

Section 4, Article 3, provides that the writ of habeas corpus shall 
not, in any case, be suspended. The Federal Constitution and the 
present Constitution of every State in the Union in terms expressed 
or implied provides that it may be "when in case of Rebellion or in- 
surrection the public safety may require it." 

Why the omission in the proposed Constitution of the exception 
which the combined wisdom of our countrymen since the achievement 
of our Independence has seen proper to make in all their Constitu- 
tions or organic laws ? Have they all been mistaken and left it for 
the Convention assembled at Charleston last winter to first discover 
the mistake ? The Constitution they propose for our adoption makes 
our State a qualified sovereign power, at least, against which treason 
may be committed, and rebellion and insurrection against its author- 
ity, may occur — as it did in the Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island in 
1842; and provides for a State militia and makes the Governor Com- 
mander-in-Chief, and makes it his sworn duty to suppress rebellion 
and insurrection against its authority. How is he going to do it, un- 
less himself as Commander-in-Chief of the war power of the State, 
or the Legislature, has the power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, 
as the Legislature of Rhode Island did in the Dorr Rebellion in 
1842 ? Until this is done all the Civil Courts — a majority, even, of 
which may favor the insurgents — have the power through this writ of 
habeas corpus to take and bring before them and set free any insur- 
gent whose liberty is restrained, and discharge and send home any 
soldier of the Governor's militia force, leaving the Governor with the 
oath of God upon his conscience to put down the rebellion or insur- 
rection, and "take care that the laws be faithfully executed," without 
even a corporal's guard to assist ! How can he do it when his sol- 
diers have been taken on writs of habeas corpus, and when wanted to 
right the enemy are either attending Court, or discharged and gone 
home ? For these and other obvious reasons, the American people 
uniformly adopt the exception in their Constitutions. A member 



calls this -'the great writ of personal liberty that can't be suspended." 
It is so great, that if adopted it will take from the State the power of 
maintaining her peace or existence, especially when aliens and for- 
eigners avail themselves of their invitation to become the owners of 
her soil. 

Section ioth of same Article is equally novel and absurd. It is 
this: "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property with- 
out due process of law, and the judgment of his peers." The part 
not italicised is contained in the Fifth Amendment to the National 
Constitution, proposed I think by Virginia in 1789, and is also con- 
tained I think, in every State Constitution that has been made since. 
The terms "due process of law" has been uniformly construed to 
mean, for causes, and in the mode existing laws prescribe. Hence 
Justices of the Peace have uniformly imprisoned and deprived per- 
sons of property which they honestly believed they owned, without 
the intervention of juries j so our Courts of Chancery throughout the 
country, are daily deciding on the rights, and transferring from one 
person to another through their Commissioners, immense properties 
without the intervention of juries, that is, "the judgment of their 
peers so in our army in pursuance of the articles of war establish- 
ed by Congress, members of the U. S. Army are tried and deprived 
of their liberty, and often of their lives, by Courts Martial, composed 
always of superiors, and not of their equals in rank, in other words 
their "peers," which literally means equals in rank, and in common 
law parlance ordinarily a jury of twelve men. What use or applica- 
tion the Conventionists expected the phrase to have in our system of 
government, I am unable to conceive ; unless it be to give rise to 
endless law-suits. For while they give Justices of the Peace jurisdic- 
tion in civil matters to decide, and deprive parties of property to 
the amount of $100, with unlimited power to arrest and commit in 
criminal cases — they expressly forbid their having juries in any case. 
Neither have they any provision requiring our Chancery Courts to 
invoke the aid of juries. 

Section 13th of same article provides that when a man sues directly 
in the County Court for any sum over $20 — say $20,01, he shall have 
a jury of twelve men to try the same ; but if he sues before a Mag- 
istrate for $100.00, and afterwards appeals to the County Court, the 
Legislature may authorize a less number than twelve jurymen to try 
such appealed case. The wisdom and purpose of this distinction 
are too subtle for my comprehension, although they concede that our 



462 



present juries of six men, that may be required before Justices, sat- 
isfies the 7th amendment of the Federal Constitution. 

Article 4th, Section 12th declares in effect that our people shall 
not be required to prove their right to vote and have their names 
entered on a register at any time — and Section 43, Article 5 expressly 
forbids it. This of course throws upon the officers superintending 
the election, the duty to hear evidence and decide, while the election 
is going on — all the various and often intricate questions that arise 
touching the qualification to vote of the numerous persons offering. 
Nearly every State in the Union has a law requiring these questions 
to be heard and decided, and the names of all such as are found 
qualified to vote entered on a register, previous to the day of elec- 
tion ; so that the superintendents on the day of election have only to 
attend to receiving the votes of those whose names have been pre- 
viously registered, and also such as are able to show reasonable cause 
for not having previously attended, proved their right to vote, and 
had their names registered. Our present Constitution authorizes the 
•Legislature to make a similar law. What could have been the motive 
for the Conventionists thus throwing upon the superintendants the 
hearing and deciding the various questions that arise, and attending 
to receiving the ballots, keeping order &c, at one and the same time? 
It certainly confines the hearing and decision of these important 
•questions to a few moments of time by officers who have enough else 
to attend to. 

The test oaths they have so much complained of, would apply 
equally to the time they propose for determining who are entitled to 
•vote ; and besides, all these are now abolished ; and can, by no pos- 
sibility be revived, unless a portion of our people de-citizenize them- 
selves again by becoming public enemies to the United States Gov- 
ernment ; which I hope is not contemplated — though I confess there 
are several features in the proposed Constitution that would squint 
that way, could they not be attributed to the peculiarity of their edu- 
cation, and fossilized prejudice inflamed by chagrin. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

July 18, 1-872. 

P. S. When you speak of me as a Democrat, which I hope I am, 
please add — but not of the Greeley stamp. 



M3 



[No. 3-T 

THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION, TO BE VOTED ON THE' 
FOURTH THURSDAY IN AUGUST. 

Editors Wheeling Intelligencer t 

Article 6, Section r6, requiring the members of the Legislature 
before entering on- the duties of fehei? office to take in addition to the 
usual oath of office, an oath not to accept bribes — that is not to com-- 
Mit an infamous crime while acting, in their official capacity— is novel 
arid must disparage" our' people' in the' estimation of civilized com- 
munities everywhere'. Why not swear them not to &reak any of the' 
commands of the decalogue during the same period ? Why not ad- 
minister a like oath to the Executive and Judicial officers ? In what 
a humiliating aspect it would present our people to the moral sense' 
of tire world, who willj and- rigfertly too, regard our officers as reflect- 
ing the character of their eonstikiences ? Officers requiring such' 
oaths are not the persons to be entrusted with the high and solemn 
duty of deciding for us when the Federal Government shall encroach- 
upon our reserved rights, and' of guarding and protecting us at all 
hazards— even to war with the Federal Government,- In enlighten- 
ing the intellect and elevating the moral tone of the constituency,, 
lies the only remedy — and not in precautionary oaths, or the infliction 
of infamous penalties. 

Section 35, of same article declares- thus \ "The State of W'esfr 
Virginia shall never be made defendant in any Court of Law or 
Equity." Suppose old- Virginia should sue her again in the United 
States Supreme Court as she did recendy to recover Jefferson and 
Berkley Counties, and the United States Supreme Court should en- 
tertain the action, as it certainly would—what would our Legislature 
do, being clothed with the "high and solemn duty" of guarding and 
protecting us and- the State Constitution of course against all en- 
croachment ? Certainly nothing short of a declaration of war against 
the Federal Government, whose Constitution says any State in the 
Union may sue and be made defendant, in> the United States Supreme 
Court — -would suffice. And then the State militia- must march as- 
South Carolina's did under Col. Haynes and Mr. Calhoun in 1832^ 
until Gen. Jackson confronted them-. I don't see how their "high- 



464 



and solemn duty'' could be discharged short of that. Coupled with 
this section was, doubtless, the omission to recognize in any form the 
9th section of the Ordinance of Separation passed by the Convention 
of the people of Virginia, assembled at Wheeling August 20, i86i* 
This provision was in substance a contract which the Federal Consti- 
tution does not permit our people to violate in any form, whether our 
State Constitution recognizes it or not. Their omission to recognize 
in the proposed Constitution the purpose they avow with so much 
credit and satisfaction— while it stamps our people with perfidy, can, 
in no degree, release us from our just liability in regard to the Vir- 
ginia debt. 

Section 39 of the same article would seem to so far restrict legisla- 
tion in regard to special and local subjects, as to require all laws in 
their application to be coextensive with the limits of the State, and far 
above the practical local needs of the people, which are constantly 
changing. 

Article 7, section t, the union of the duties of Attorney- General 
and Reporter of Court of Appeals decisions, in the same person, 
would seem to me to be often embarrassing, if not wholly incompati- 
ble. Why require the Executive officers, as Auditor, Treasurer, &c., 
except the Attorney-General, to "reside," that is, have their families 
located at the seat of Government during their term of office ? It 
would often enhance their expenses—and wherein benefit the public ? 

The Court of Appeals proposed, is to consist of four Judges instead 
of three as now. The almost universal practice throughout the civil- 
ized world is to have an odd number, three, five, seven, nine, &c, so 
as to render it impossible for them to stand equally divided on any 
question ; and produce in every case a decision that shall be regard- 
ed as a precedent. When from accident or otherwise, an even num- 
ber has been present and they equally divided, the judgment below 
stood confirmed and the decision considered a binding precedent. 
The proposed Constitution adopts this rule with its four Judges, ex- 
cept in the last instance, their decision is not to be regarded as a 
precedent or authority beyond the case itself. In all cases like the 
last therefore the question is undecided and open for future litigation j 
whereas with the present number the question would have been 
judicially settled for all time, and all cases. The present number are 
amply able to do all the work of our little State, for the present 
at least. What motive the Conventionists had, except to displace the 



465 



present faithful incumbents and make a nice place for four of their 
party, and still keep open for further litigation disputed questions, I 
am unable to see. 

They propose to have nine Circuit Judges, each to hold two terms 
a year in each County. 

As constituting the next judicial grade below, they propose to have 
fifty-four County Courts, one for each County, composed of a County 
Judge to be chosen by vote of each County, who is to preside, is to 
hold six terms in his County each year— -at four of which terms two 
Justices of the Peace are to sit with him, and at the other two terms, 
a majority of all the Justices of the County are to sit with him. The 
Judge is to have $4 a day for the time he sits, and his associates $3 
each. Of course the compensation paid will not secure a County 
Judge of any considerable legal attainment ; and still they propose to 
clothe his Court with large law and equity jurisdiction, and give him 
a grand and two petty juries with all the attendant officers that attend 
the Circuit Court, where a Judge presides who is learned in the law, 
knows what it is, is competent to instruct all in attendance, including 
lawyers and juries, in that regard ; is master of his position, able, com- 
petent and disposed to dispatch the business by administering the 
law. While the County Judge, though a good man otherwise, has 
never studied the law, and don't know what it is that he has under- 
taken to administer; the lawyers will lead him by the nose, tangle him 
up and confound him with their legal quibbles and sophistries, while 
grand and petty juries and suitors with their witnesses from all parts 
of the County, are in attendance, enjoying the sport, or sharing the 
mortification— -at a cost to the County and parties of hundreds of 
dollars per day ! I have not overdrawn the picture, as any one who 
has witnessed the workings of the old Virginia County Courts, will 
say— Courts that belong as emphatically to the past, as the pyramids 
and mummies of Egypt. And still the Convention seriously asks us 
to adopt this system in place of our present simple, practical, com- 
mon sense mode of conducting our County and Judicial affairs, where 
a Circuit Judge, learned in the law and master of his position, comes 
among us three times a year, dispatches the business promptly and 
intelligently, and releases the County and parties of a heavy expense, 
both of money and time; while our Boards of Supervisors, composed 
of practical business men, manage and dispatch with alacrity and 
practical sense the fiscal and internal concerns of the County — thus 
verifying the old adage, "Every man to his own trade. 5 ' or work he 
J3 



466 

understands and is master of. Talk about the economy of the two 
systems ! What they propose to pay the County Judge and his asso- 
ciates, sinks into nothing when we consider the immense retinue and 
attendants, grand and petty juries, suitors, witnesses and officers that 
must necessarily accompany their sessions — all comparatively useless 
and inefficient for the want of a competent legal mind on the bench 
to instruct? direct and control. With equal propriety A. T. Stewart 
might employ a common farmer of mechanic and place him at the 
head of one of his immense Dry Goods stores? to superintend and di- 
rect the numerous employees? and call it economy, because he got him 
at two dollars per day ! It is amusing after surveying the different 
subjects and duties they propose to devolve on the County Courts to 
refer to Section i, Article 5? which undertakes carefully to define and 
separate the duties of legislative, executive and judicial officers, and 
expressly forbids those of one department exercising the duties 
properly appertaining to either of the others — they devolve 
on their County Court the duties of three departments in one confus- 
ed medley. They give justices of the Peace jurisdiction throughout 
their respective Counties — and the party suing may compel his op- 
ponent to travel the whole extent of his County to attend a justice 
court. They have jurisdiction in civil matters to $100? but when 
over $20 the defendant may at once remove the suit to the County 
Court. Their main purpose appears to be? to make it necessary in 
all cases to employ lawyers and oblige all parties and witnesses to 
come to them at the County seats? where are to be established again 
the County Courts with their rings? once so famous in Virginia? and 
to which and - the Cal-houn dogma of which they were the chief ex- 
pounders, the late rebellion in a great measure owes its origin. 

Very Respectfully. 

G. P. 

July 20, 1872. 



[No. 4. J 

THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION, TO EE VOTED ON THE 
FOURTH THURSDAY IN AUGUST. 

Editors Wheeling Intelligencer : 

The framers fearing their County Court humbug would not be 
relished, proposed to secure the adoption of its pernicious features 



467 



by allowing the people of any County, or of two or more adjoining 
Counties combined, with the assistance of the Legislature, to affix 
names other than County Courts. See Section 34, Article 8. Thus 
allowing, if not inviting, the third grade of Courts throughout the 
State to be known by as many different names as there are Counties ; 
yet they take care to secure the same pernicious features under all 
the different names that may be selected. What a checkered face, 
and medley of names, our State would exhibit in this grade of her 
Courts ; and each performing the duties that the citizens of other 
States will be most interested in, and be obliged to consult, as record- 
ers of deeds, taxes^ &c. How can these find out the names of the 
officers to be addressed ? This feature is indeed original. It is un- 
known to every other State in the tJnion, and I think the civilized 
world. A uniformity of names as well as powers of Courts of the 
same grade, are always preserved throughout all the Counties of the 
States, excepting only in incorporated cities and towns. 

By Section 4 Article 9 they propose another novelty equally un- 
known in our American system. It is, I think, a universal practice to 
remove from office judicial officers for malfeasance, misfeasance, or 
neglect of duty therein, by impeachment by the popular branch of 
the Legislature, and conviction by the Senate ; or by the address or 
resolution of the Legislature. 

The framers propose to remove the County Court Judges by hav- 
ing them indicted for either of said causes, and convicted before the 
Circuit Court in the same manner as is done with horse thieves and 
other felons. This is novel indeed, and illy comports with the im- 
posing dignity with which they propose to clothe their County Courts, 
or the independent judiciary they promised. Why, it would make 
any of these grave dignitaries, while presiding with his magis- 
terial supports on either hand, over an immense and imposing 
retinue, composed of grand and petit juries, lawyers, sheriffs, suitors, 
witnesses, &c, liable to be seized and carried away at any moment 
on capias issued— -on indictment found in the Circuit Court for alleg- 
ed neglect of duty merely, at the instance of a disappointed suitor. 
What a spectacle such an occurrence would present. I would ask my 
fellow citizens to pause here a moment and compare this proposed 
system with the present township system, which Mr. Jefferson orig- 
inated. Each township with its justice, whose jurisdiction is limited 
to his township, before whom his townsmen can come, and with or 
without the aid of six neighbors as a jury, promptly,' cheaply and sat- 



468 



isfactorily settle home disputes, and without the aid of lawyers. Shall 
we then give up the township system with its neighborhood courts, its; 
free schools for our children, and as our Fathers told us, the fittest 
schools for educating and training American freemen, and intrust all 
again to the old County Courts and their rings. The township sys- 
tem has been new to us, and as yet but partially, and in many sec- 
tions quite unfairly tried. Other States we may feel proud to imitate* 
have long tried and now cherish the system. 

Article nth seems to me objectionable on many grounds. Its most 
obvious purpose seems to be to secure votes by appealing to present 
existing popular prejudice against the Baltimore & Ohio and other 
similar large railroad corporations,' and in their eagerness to bring 
this prejudice to the support of their proposed Constitution, they 
have gone in many instances to ridiculous lengths, to lengths that 
must beget infinite litigations, and finally be decided in favor of the 
companies already in possession of their charters, which are contracts 
that the Federal Constitution and the uniform decisions of the Fed- 
eral Courts abundantly protect and uphold. What right has our peo- 
ple, either by its Constitution or Legislature, to restrict or modify the 
rights conferred by any charter granted prior to 1850, wherein such 
right to alter or modify is not expressly reserved in the charter itself? 
Certainly none. Moreover the first Section, prohibiting the Legisla- 
ture granting any special charter in any case seems to me unstates- 
manlike and unwise. The charters for the various internal improve- 
ments through different and dissimilar localities will necessitate differ- 
ent and peculiar provisions, which can only be reached by special 
charters. 

Section 11, Article 12, on education, seems to me particularly ob- 
jectionable ; for it prohibits for all time the establishment of addi- 
tional Normal schools, whose legitimate object is to qualify and train 
male and female teachers for our free schools. There is now a great 
scarcity of competent teachers. Few of these are natives of the 
State, but come from neighboring States — generally of the lower 
grades — frequently mere adventurers, and exact high wages. Now 
there is no better material for making good teachers than our own 
native boys and girls afford. * Is it not right as well as true State 
policy to train and qualify our own boys and girls to become the 
teachers of our free schools ? 

It will improve their character, qualify them for honorable, useful 



469 



and remunerative employment, and at the same time keep the monies 
vve pay out for teachers at home among ourselves. Such a course I 
know would gratify our own people, our farmers, mechanics, &c, the 
fathers of our boys and girls, no less than the boys and girls them- 
selves. Normal schools erected in convenient sections of the State, 
are the proper institutions to do this work most speedily and cheaply ; 
and hence the impolicy and injustice in absolutely prohibiting for all 
time their creation. I am for encouraging home production to this 
extent at least. What should we think of our people if, after raising 
plenty of good wheat, for which there was not remunerative markets, 
they should neglect to manufacture it, but purchase their flour of in- 
ferior stamp abroad at extravagant prices ? 

Article 13 on "Land Titles," the framers count on as sure to bring 
to the support of their instrument all that unfortunate class in our 
State known as squatters or junior patentees, on whose imperfect and 
confused titles our politicians have "lived, moved and had their be- 
ing" for the last forty years. They therefore have counted much on 
this article, and are parading it everywhere, and assuring those they 
have so long managed to dupe, that if adopted, it will take the lands 
of citizens of other States, honestly purchased and taxes paid, which 
persons they call dishonest speculators, and give all to the occupants ! 

I have examined the article and am unable to see how it can in 
any way, materially benefit or harm this unfortunate class ; though I 
can see that the parade they make of it, and disposition and feeling 
shown, will greatly injure our State and people with the citizens of 
other States, whose confidence, capital and co-operation we stand in 
eminent need of at this time. 

The 14th Article, their mode of amending the Constitution. The 
only material difference between this and Article 12th of the present 
Constitution is this : They require a specific amendment to be ap- 
proved by a two-thirds majority of our Legislature before submitting 
it to the people ; while the present Constitution requires the approval 
of a bare majority of our Legislature, and then three months publi- 
cation of the proposed amendment before the election of the suc- 
ceeding Legislature, so the people may vote with regard to it — and 
then if approved by a majority of the Legislature so elected, it is to 
be submitted to the people. It strikes me the latter mode is the 
safest and best ; for the reason the proposed mode requires the 
people to get a two-thirds majority of the Legislature to concur be- 
fore any specific amendment can be inaugurated, however much 



470 



needed the amendment may be; and if the Legislature should of its 
own motion propose one that was not needed, it can only be stopped 
or disposed of by an election of the people with its accompanying 
loss of time and money ; whereas by the present mode a bare major- 
ity of any Legislature is competent to propose one or more specific 
amendments. These have to be published three months throughout 
the State before the succeeding Legislature is elected, so the voters 
can read and consider them, and if not approved, can choose a Leg- 
islature that will disprove, and this ends the matter, without any ad- 
ditional expense but the previous publication. 

The permission to the Legislature to lessen the credit with the 
community of persons whose real and personal property is worth only 
$1200 or less, by exempting that amount from being taken for debt, 
would not be likely to be acted on by any Legislature, with the con- 
sent of that class, as it is the poor and dependent that need credit, 
not the rich and independent. 

The schedule by which they propose to put their plan in operation 
is equally novel and peculiar. If after a month or two for ascertain- 
ing, it shall appear that a majority voting has approved of their in- 
strument, it is to take effect and be in operation from one minute past 
midnight preceding the day of the election. That is some eight hours 
before the polls are opened, and seventeen or eighteen hours before 
they are closed. With equal propriety they could have fixed the 
commencement of its operation the midnight preceding the 20th of 
June, 1863, when the present Constitution went into operation, and 
so have wiped out entirely the present Constitution that has annoyed 
them so much. Another novel feature is, all the offices it creates are 
to be filled by choosing at the same election * and the election of the 
members of the Legislature is to vacate the offices of the present 
members, and as the terms of the members elect do not commence 
before the first Tuesday of November next, between the two dates 
there will be no Legislature and no power anywhere to create one, 
no matter what should happen. Whose "high and solemn duty will 
it be to guard and protect us from encroachments on our reserved 
rights" during that period ? It provides that our present Courts 
shall continue till the first of January next, and requires them to hold 
their terms of Court as now established ; but provides that all "pro- 
cesses outstanding" the 2 2d day of August, the day of election, shall 
be returned to the newly elected Court to be organized at such time 
after the first of January as the newly elected Legislature, to convene 



/ 



471 



the third Tuesday of November, may direct. What will the officers 
do who hold such outstanding processes, which imperatively com- 
mand such officers to make due return to a particular Court on a 
specified day ? What becomes of the attachments, bonds, securi- 
ties, &c, connected with these outstanding processes ? I leave these 
questions for wiser heads to solve. 

I have thus called the attention of my fellow citizens to what seems 
to me grave objections. Those touching the election of members of 
Congress, the imperfect description of our territory, the greatly en- 
hanced cost, &c, &c, have already been discussed by more compe- 
tent minds. 

My confidence in the intelligence and patriotism of my fellow citi- 
zens forbids a doubt, but that the proposed Constitution, its schedule 
and the ring, will be overwhelmingly defeated ; but if through the 
chastisements of an inscrutable Providence it should happen other- 
wise, I would say in behalf of myself and fellow citizens : Remem- 
ber us, oh God, in this, the severest of Thy Inflictions ! 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

July 22, 1872. 



The Governor subsequently proclaimed the Ratification carried by 
a vote of 42,154 in favor, and 37,748 against — by a majority of 4,406 
in an aggregate vote of 79,902; and new officers duly elected in pur- 
suance thereof. No returns had been received from the Counties of 
Ritchie and McDowell, whose vote would not have changed the re- 
sult — if no fraud. The Convention submitted by a separate poll the 
question, whether colored men should be eligible to office, though 
the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the Federal Constitu- 
tion had made them both citizens and voters. The vote for exclud- 
ing from office "on account of race, color, or previous condition of 
servitude," was only 27,568. A fear of Congressional Reconstruc- 
tion, (that might uncover fraud) I was told, deterred many from vot- 
ing on the Proposition, who otherwise would. 

The somewhat puzzling question, and suspicious feature of this 
transaction, is, how the aggregate vote cast in the State a year before — 
when both the ex-rebels and colored people were enfranchised, and 
when the most vital step in their scheme was at stake, was only 57,- 
858 — should become increased to 79,902 — an increase of 22,044 



472 



without any apparent, legitimate cause ! I here insert the remarks of 
my critical, ingenuous friend, Mr. Hall, then Editor of the W heeling 
Intelligencer, appearing in that paper of October 30, 1872, as one 
hypothesis that will solve the problem— with this additional suggestion ; 
there were at the time of the election, thousands of men, citizens of 
Virginia and other States, at work on the Western end of the Chesa- 
peake & Ohio Railroad, and there was no law requiring a previous 
registration of voters — that having been repealed in February, 187 1, 
by the Legislature that inaugurated the Convention scheme. 

"THE VOTE ON THE CONSTITUTION. 

"In our columns yesterday appeared the full vote of the State on 
the Constitution in August, as derived from official sources, except- 
ing the Counties of McDowell and Ritchie from which no returns 
had been received. It shows that the vote then cast (at least return- 
ed) was far the largest ever cast in the State. The aggregate report- 
ed is 79,902, with Ritchie and McDowell to hear from. These 
Counties cast about fifteen hundred votes a year ago. Their vote 
makes the total over eighty-one thousand. The vote for Governor 
in 1868 was 49,293, in 1870 56,030. That on the call for the Con- 
vention in August last year, was 58,227. The vote last month is 
therefore more than 23,000, or over 40 per cent, greater than any 
ever cast before. All restrictions on suffrage were removed by the 
ratification of the Flick Amendment in April last year. The vote 
in the following August was as free as it was last month, yet we have 
the surprising addition in one year of 23,000 votes to a vote of 
58,000. 

"Cabell is the only County whose vote exceeded one to each four 
inhabitants. 

"The Counties whose vote exceeded one to each five, but fell be- 
low one to each four, are : Calhoun, Gilmer, Lincoln, Marion, Pleas- 
ants, Raleigh, Wayne, Webster and Wirt. All of these Counties (ex- 
cept only Pleasants) gave majorities for the Constitution. The vote 
of Calhoun last year was 472, this year 652 * Gilmer last year 603, 
this year 875; Lincoln last year 721, this year 1,054; Marion last 
year 2,408, this year 2,911; Raleigh last year 482, this year 846 ; 
Webster last year 226, this year 362; Wirt last year 802, this year 
964; Wayne last year 1.024, this year 1,796; Cabell last year 927, 



year 1,670. Other instances quite as striking could be noted} 
such as Wood, which added 1,011 to her 2.690; Wetzel, which ad- 
ded 7 16 to its 746 ; Barbour, which added 502 to its 1,402; Pleas- 
ants, which added 282 to its 440, and so on, 

"This extraordinary vote may have been honestly cast and return- 
ed. We have no evidence that justifies us in asserting that it was 
not, but these figures inevitably provoke a doubt. We present the 
figures and leave the reader to judge for himself;" 



I published the following at the time the Legislature was remod- 
elling the Free School system, under their new Constitution ; and 
when different plans were being proposed. 



[No. 1.] 

PLAS FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM, 
Editors Wheeling Intelligencer : 

Will not something like the following Free School System best suit 
our people at the present time ? 

First — Let the Legislature fix and levy the entire amount to be 
raised annually for school purposes. 

Second — Let this be collected by the Sheriffs and paid into the 
State Treasury — the Auditor to keep an account of the school money 
received from each County. 

Tkird-^lAt the voters of each County elect a Treasurer of its 
School Fund — hedge him round so die money can't be lost. 

Fourth-^ Authorize the Auditor to pay to each Treasurer the 
amount his respective County has paid in, with the quotas arising 
from the permanent fund as at present. 

Fifth — Let the voters of each school district choose annually one 
of their number to act as Commissioner — to keep in repair the school 
house, hire, draw the money coming to his district, and pay the teach- 
ers. The Commissioner to draw no pay for ordinary services. This 
K3 



474 



office to rotate annually, and to be performed gratuitously by the vo- 
ters for the sake of the cause. 

Sixth — Let the Presiding Justice of the County Court, with the 
Commonwealth's Attorney and the Clerks of the Circuit and County 
Courts, constitute the Board of Examiners— the applicants paying the 
prescribed fees. 

Seventh — Let the Treasurer act as County Superintendent — ^each 
teacher be required* to report to him, and be to the State Superin- 
tendent. 

Eighth— Complete as soon as practicable,- the Normal Schools now 
authorized by law, give to them the greatest efficiency possible, and 
make the terms so reasonable as to enable and induce the young mere 
and women of our mountain districts to come and qualify themselves 
to become teachers in their respective districts or neighborhoods. This- 
will quicken- and inspire the young men and women, and they will be 
the best qualified to teach, quicken and inspire their neighbors 7 chil- 
dren. Their literary attainments need not be high, as it is only the- 
rudiments they will be required to teach> but should be accurate and 
thorough as far as they have gone. This system not to apply to in- 
corporated cities and towns—give such the privilege of having as 
high a grade of schools as they desire — they paying the additional 
expense. 

It should be constantly borne in mind, it seems to me, that a large 
majority of the children of the State, especially the mountain dis- 
tricts, are comparatively illiterate, and to do the work right we ought 
to begin at the bottom and work in a way that the tax-payers and 
parents shall see and realize the advantage derived to their children. 
The support the people have already given the system with all the 
errors of administration, ought to admonish all that it is a subject 
near to their hearts. The children crave- to learn- the art that shall 
enable them to read and think for themselves, and so emancipate 
themselves from the control of demagogues, both secular and spirit- 
ual. My earnest desire is that every child in the State shall enjoy 
this inestimable privilege ; and when this is done, it will be time- 
enough to consider whether it is true State policy to tax the people 
to carry them further than-- a practical common school education. I 
don't believe it is. Such as really merit can always of themselves- 
find the means to go higher, and all such as have not the native ca- 
pacity had better remain where they are, lest a good farmer or me- 
chanic, most valuable to the State,, should become a public nuisance 



475 



in the shape of a pettifogging lawyer, quack doctor, or renegade 
preacher, genteel loafer, or thieving practitioner generally. No Con- 
stitutional objection can be raised to the plan indicated. If a local 
Board of Education can levy money by "authority of the people," 
there is no reason why the Legislature may not — its members being 
also their immediate agents — and to their combined wisdom, is it not 
safest and best to confide this delicate task for the present at least i 

If it be objected, that the Counties of low valuation should receive 
snore than they pay in — I reply that neither equity nor true State 
policy would sanction. While the number of children may be pro- 
portionably larger, much less expensive teachers are required as a 
general thing to meet their wants. Besides, the more rich and ad 
vanced Counties have had to pay their way up from a similar state of 
illiteracy, and why should not those now behind do likewise ? I see 
no reason. 

Myself and friends have paid and are now paying large amounts 
of taxes for school purposes ; and we do it most cheerfully when k 
goes to help open the eyes and enfranchise the minds of the youth of 
our State, but it stirs us deeply to see these "children's bread" snatch- 
ed and devoured by dogs — nay worse than dogs — be they secular or 
of some of the religious orders. 

These are suggestions merely for the consideration of my fellow 
citizens and tax-payers. The plan is simple, and the people whose 
concern it is, can understand it. "Thieves cannot break through and 
steal." It is purely secular, and ambitious rival sectaries cannot en- 
ter. And though it possesses none of the complicated machinery of 
the present system, which our mountain districts have never under- 
stood and of course have mismanaged, nor the stilted, high-sounding 
additions the recent Educational Convention propose to engraft in 
the form of many grades of Examining Boards, with as many grades 
of certificates, and worse than all a "Teachers' Institute," to be sup- 
ported in each Senatorial District, presided over and instructed by 
^'learned Professors" solely, to include doubtless the D. D's. and Pro- 
ifessors of the Colleges, with power to grant certificates to such only 
as shall attend on their instruction, and get of course their sectarian 
cue. Think, a non-acceptance of that cue would not lose the appli- 
cant his certificate, however well otherwise qualified ? A close cor- 
poration indeed ! and suggestive of another "Credit Mobilier," which, 
in league with the Colleges, their D. D's. and Professors, are to rival 



476 



and swallow up what — unless it be our secular and utiseetarian Free- 
School System, including the Normal Schools ? They would neces - 
sarily be rivals and antagonistic to our Normal Schools — for they as- 
pire to occupy the same ground, to duplicate so far as they go ; and 
while the spirit of religious sectarianism would animate the one, the 
yearnings of our people for intellectual enlightenment and freedom 
would, or should, animate the other. 

Nearly all the school learning I ever got, I acquired in a rural Free 
District School in Massachusetts, where the system was far simpler 
than the one indicated, and far less expensive than we may hope ours 
to be. The master's school in the winter was usually from ten to 
twelve weeks — -as much time as the boys could be spared from the 
farm. Six hours each week day, except Saturday, which was three., 
was the time allowed ; the rest of the time I had to work chopping 
wood, attending to stock, &c. It was the same with the other boys. 
Our master was usually one of our farmer's sons who had qualified in 
the same school, except a finishing touch received in a quarter's or so, 
attendance at some Academy. The average wages paid was $14 per 
month and boarded. The balance of the year he labored on a farm. 

The woman school was usually for a like period in the summer, 
The "School Mann," as she was styled, was usually the daughter of 
some farmer of the district, and her pay was $1 a week and board. 
Only the children that were not large enough to work attended her 
school. I mention these facts to show how simple and cheap the 
"Free Schools" were in the State that first established them. 

Having no party feeling myself, I should be very sorry to see this, 
most vital question assume a partisan character. 

Very Respectfully, 

G. P. 

February 6, 1873. 

P. S. I would further suggest that as the tax-payers furnish the 
money to build the school houses and pay the teachers, it is their 
right to have a law enforcing indifferent parents and guardians to 
send their children or wards — if physically able — a sufficient time to 
acquire the art that enables them to educate themselves, and become 
industrious, useful citizens, instead of (too often, the ease) subjects to* 
be supported as paupers or convicts. 



4< i 



[No. 2.] 

PLAN FOR A FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 
jftditors Wheeling Intelligencer : 

It has been pbjected that if the Legislature should fix and levy ail 
the school money above that arising from the permanent fund, it 
would take from the people the privilege they now enjoy of raising a 
portion voluntarily through their local school boards, for only in that 
way are they now allowed to raise. 

I think such objectors do not understand the present law. The 
Legislature now levies iq cents on every $iqo valuation, which, with 
the poll tax it collects into the State Treasury, and then complacently 
says to the local school boards and through them to the people, now 
go to work and raise for yourselves sufficient money, when added to 
your quota, as shall run your schools four months in a year without 
exceeding 50 cents on a $ioq valuation — if you don't, we will have 
the Circuit Court's mandamus after you, and will withhold from you 
all the moneys we have already levied and collected from you and 
your quota arising from the permanent fund also. [See sections 44, 
45 and 60, chapter 45, Code.] A privilege like that a steamboat 
crew gives to horses, cattle, sheep, swine, &c, they wish to ship 
aboard. How much more manly and respectful to its constituents it 
would be for the Legislature, as the immediate and highest agency of 
the people, to fix the amount to be levied, collected, and pay it to the 
County School Treasurer, as needed, together with the quotas arising 
from the permanent fund, over which none but the people themselves 
have control. 

Others object that it would be shocking — after the property owners 
have been compelled to furnish the money to build the school houses, 
hire and pay the teachers— to oblige indifferent and sordid parents 
and guardians to give to the future men and women in their charge, 
the future sovereigns of the Republic, this inestimable boon — the 
privilege of acquiring the art to educate themselves, and become in- 
telligent, free and useful citizens, instead of future burdens to the 
tax-payers in the form of public paupers or convicts. The genius of 
West Virginia youth, if I understand it, and I think I do, is destined 
to strike out in some direction and make itself felt, either as a bless- 
ing and honor, or curse, disgrace and burden to the State. The in* 



478 



different or sordid feeling among parents and guardians in my native 
State, has induced its Legislature to impose upon all its manufactur- 
ing establishments and individuals a penalty of $500, if they employ 
a minor of the school-going age without a certificate from some com- 
petent authority that the youth has attended some school the pre- 
scribed time within the year. I am informed that there are a large 
number of totally illiterate youth in Wellsburg that have never attend- 
ed our large and commodious free school, with its competent and 
worthy corps of teachers, which our taxpayers' money has built and 
supports. 

Is the right of these indifferent or sordid parents so high and sacred 
that honest tax-paying citizens must still be compelled to keep on 
paying, and keep mum, lest they diminish the numbers of such par- 
ents, demagogues political and spiritual, may have to prey upon? I re- 
gret — however we might expect — that the objectors should be regu- 
lar graduates of our colleges. 

I learn from the Auditor's last report, which a friend loaned me, 
that delinquent Sheriffs prior to 1872 still hold on to $77,674.72 of 
the school money — the children's bread — and this is but a small item 
of the stealings in that direction. In fact, under the present system, 
the children in the mountain districts have scarcely got the crumbs 
of the funds raised for the purpose, that fell from the thieves' table. 
And one of the collegiate editors remarks with a true clerical super- 
cilliousness, "G. P. is out again." I answer — and intends to stay 
out until the children get their bread, in spite of thieves or sordid 
and unnatural parents. 

Very Respectfully, 
February 21, 1873. G. P. 



THE PLYMOUTH CHURCH SCANDAL— ITS "GREAT 
PREACHER" SPEAKS AT LAST. 

Editors Wheeling Intelligencer: 

I read in your paper of the 3d inst, his note to the Brooklyn Ea- 
gle, also in your preceding number the mutual "covenant" to remit 



V.dch other's sins and mutually forgive each other, signed by Beecher^ 
Bowen and Tilton, dated April 2, 1872, fourteen months ago, and 
first made public on Tuesday last by the custodian to whose honor 
the three had entrusted it. This custodian assigns as his reason for 
publishing it that Bowen had failed to keep the silence he therein 
covenanted to keep, but still insisted and declared that the heinous 
and atrocious crimes that Beecher had been charged with commit- 
ting were true, and for the further reason that the public may under- 
stand the "'brave silence* the ""great preacher" has kept, and that the 
document is given to the world to convict the principal offender 
against truth, public decency and reputation,, meaning, I presume,. 
Bowen, one of it's members and main pillars since it^ foundation. 

The "great preacher," in his note to the Eagle, says he "should not 
speak now but for the sake of rescuing another from unjust imputa- 
tion," which means Tilton, of course,, who together with his wife 
had been pillars. "That the document was published by the custodian 
without the con-sent or authorization of either himself or Tilton - t 
and if the document should lead the public to regard Mr. Tilton as 
the author of the calumnies to which it alludes, it will do him great 
injustice." "I am unwilling," he says, "that he (Tilton) should even 
seem to be responsible for the injurious statements, whose force was 
derived wholly from another," which must mean Bowen, or the "great 
preacher"-— -his conscience having clothed himself with all the imputed 
guilt in spite of his exuberant "cheek !" The evidence already be- 
fore the public, in my opinion, (and I have- carefully read it) applies 
it to the latter. 

The Eagle's prefatory remarks to the "great Preacher's" note r 
dictated doubtless by him— says Mr. Claflin was the inaugurator of 
this unique "covenant," for the purpose of reconciling the "great 
Preacher" and Bowen ; and that this Claflin became the entrusted 
custodian; but "that Samuel. Wilkeson, business partner of Beecher 
drew it up, kept a copy of it, and that this same Wilkeson, the 
business partner of Beecher gave it to the press last week without 
his, Beecher's, consent or authorization." Rather a treacherous 
partner we world's people would think. A little "too thin," we 
should say. 

I will at this time give but one of Tilton 's letters, that to his- 
Pastor, written in the fall of 187 1, shortly after, as is alleged, his 
wife, having returned fresh from a watering-place sojo:irn, was most 



persistently solicited by the '"'great Preacher*' to become (if she did 
not) his wife for the time being. 

This is the letter, and its genuineness has never been disputed. 
Tilton entrusted Bowen, who appearing similarly aggrieved, to de- 
liver it — and in the act Beecher won him to his side! 

"Henry Ward Beecher : Sir. — For reasons which you will un- 
derstand \ and "which I need not ' therefore recite, I advise and demand 
that you quit Plymouth Pulpit forever, and leave Brooklyn as a resi- 
dence. Theodore Tilton." 

The reliable* evidence already made public proves, it seems to me, 
a degree' of moral corruption, and disregard of law, in that church, 
its aiders and abettors, that has no parallel ; and that the "great 
Preacher" himself has been the prime cause, and directing spirit, of 
the whole. 

It appears that Friday evening, May 30th, after the "covenant" 
had been made publicj the Deacons at the suggestion of the "great 
Preacher" resolved to have an investigation ! What whitewashing 
may we not expect ? 

Both Beecher with all his fascinating Aaron Burr magnetic pow- 
er, and the sticklers for an effete and worn-out theology, who employ 
him, should have better appreciated the great truth divinely announc- 
ed near nineteen hundred years ago, than to have attempted to put 
the new r wine of to-day into their old bottles ! It will burst the old 
bottles, and themselves too, if they continue the attempt to repress it. 
"'Tis hard to kick against the pricks "Truth is mighty, and will 
prevail," though the whole secular press become subsidized, and op- 
pose. 

Verv respectfully, 

G. P. 

June 10, 1873-. 

P. S. I should not have written the foregoing, if it had not been 
for the palpable and alarming invasions these confederate actors have 
made upon the civil and religious rights of American citizens ; but 
have felt content to let the Church folks right it out in accordance 
with their Church rules. But this palpable violation of fundamental 
rights recently witnessed in New York, should forbid any citizen let- 
ting it pass without notice, and especially, those of the press ' whom; 
we pay and expect to look out for danger, and give the alarm. 



481 



A correspondent, over the signature of "R," a Clergyman, I 
think, replied through the same paper, in which he asserted the en- 
tire innocence and purity of Mr. Beecher, (whom he styled "the 
world's great preacher,") and also his Church ; and charged me with 
making "most uncharitable, " if not malicious reflections upon him, 
and his religion, which he said was the Christian — to this I rejoined ; 
but the editors of that paper declined to publish' my rejoinder. 

The recent uncovering of Plymouth Church, its "great Preacher' 
ct id genus dmne in the Ttlton and Beecher scandal trial lias now 
rendered unnecessary further remarks by me, save this: The evi- 
dence and revealments that have shocked the moral sense, and 
offended, if not nauseated, the entire aesthetic nature of the civilized 
world (or at least the unecclesiastical portion) entitled the Plaintiff, 
with all his short comings, in my judgment; to a verdict without the 
jury leaving their seats; and ought to teach the male heads of 
American families — on the sanctity and purity of whose households 
our Republican Institutions rest— to remember the allegory of Eve 
and the snake, and like "the Angels; with flaming swords," guard 
and protect, at all hazards, against all insidious invaders ; and 
especially sucli as claim' to be "called of tJbdj" through whatever 
instrumentality; to be "spiritual guides;" arid Conservators of our 
own, or fam'ilies' souls. 

Is not the only effective cure for the present rank and unblushing 
concupiscence in the Churches, this: To let the women, of themselves, 
rim the present Churches (as something of the kind, it would seem, 
they must have) or, if th'ey must have those of the other sex to help 
them — let such' first become, of be made, Eunuchs. No one, I think, 
can say; such a requirement would not be altogether Christian — and 
Paitlirie, also. Does riot the safety and purity of American house- 
holds, at the present time, demand such a course ? Let such male 
heads of American households, as trunk otherwise, read for them- 
selves the almost daily revealments of the secular press throughout 
the country on the subject ; and remember what is generally reported 
to be true, that Plymouth Church, at the present time, consists of 
from twenty-three to twenty-live hundred female members, mostly, it 
is to be hoped, the wives, daughters, or sisters of honest and indus- 
trious male rili/.ens — whose duty it is, T submit, to rightly understand, 
wisely and justly, but imperatively, govern, guard and protect their 



482 



hiore pregnable, and at the same time, diviner natures, against seem- 
ing. adepts in lechery, both male and female — still, all these are under 
the (so called) spiritual guidance, domination and control of about rifty- 
fhree affluent, high-fed, influential males — of the character that trial 
fias disclosed— at the head of whom stands Beecher ! And also 
note that the entire Clerical fraternity in the United States, Catholics' 
melutfecl, numbered in f86b, when the war begun, only 37,559, ac- 
c'ofdirYg to th£ U. S'. Census of that year— lumbered, the Protestant 1 
portion alone,- in f 86&y when- an Ecclesiastical ce'n'su's was taken'. 62,- 
239, and our population 34,566,000, an increase of nearly two to one 
during the eight years, of ministers, whilst the increase of our entire 
population 1 during the same period, was as orve to' ten; serving to' 
show tha¥ different k4nrls v of entozoons multiply during disturbed, or 
diseased periods of the political bodyV no less than 5 is CowVtn'on in the' 
animal,- under similar conditions. 

The inferences, my fellow-citizens will draw for themselves; yet, I 
submit, as a co-sovereign it is rity right, as well as imperative duty, 
as it is theirs" also,- to take care that "the Republic receives no' 
detriment," from this, otner souiVe^- 

f . S. August 2, i'8f5* The 31st ult.,- a£ i\ A. M., the Honest,- 
Arave and Patriotic Spirit of Andrew JOhnson took its flight to a 
more deserving world — -with this as its last expressed wish, that his' 
Country's Flag might wrap his mortal- re riiaiws ! 



